CHRI STJAJNI'  S  CIENCE 


VERSUS 


PANTHEISM 
MESSAGES  1900-1901-1902 


MARY  BAKER  EDDY 


fBX  6941  .C555  1898 
Eddy,  Mary  Baker,  1821-1910 
Christian  science  versus 
pantheism 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  VERSUS 
PANTHEISM 

MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER 
CHURCH,    1900 

MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER 
CHURCH,   1901 

MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER 
CHURCH,   1902 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

VERSUS 

PANTHEISM 


CHRISTIAN      SCIENCE 

VERSUS  / 

PANTHEISM 


BY 
MARY  BAKER  EDDY 

PASTOR  EMERITUS  OF  THE  FIRST  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST,  SCIENTIST 

BOSTON,    AND    AUTHOR    OF    SCIENCE    AND    HEALTH 

WITH    KEY   TO    THE    SCRIPTURES 


Published  by  The 

Trustees  under  the  Will  of  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy 
BOSTON,  U,  S.A. 


Authorized  Literature  of 

The  First  Church  of  Christ,  Scientist 

in  Boston,  Massachusetts 


Copyright,  i8g8 
By  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy 


All  rights  reserved 


PRINTED  IN  THE  UNITKD  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

VERSUS 

PANTHEISM 


CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE 

VERSUS    PANTHEISM 


PASTOR'S     MESSAGE     TO     THE     MOTHER    i 
CHURCH     ON    THE     OCCASION    OF    THE 
JUNE     COMMUNION,     1898  3 

Subject:  Not  Pantheism,  hut  Christian  Science. 

"DELOVED    brethren,    since    last    you    gathered     at    the 

feast   of    our  Passover,   the  winter  winds  have   come     6 
and  gone;    the  rushing  winds  of  March  have  shrieked  and 
hummed  their  hymns;    the  frown  and  smile  of  April,  the 
laugh  of  ]May,  have  fled;    and  the  roseate  blush  of  joyous     9 
June  is  here  and  ours. 

In  unctuous  unison  with  nature,  mortals  are  hoping  and 
working,    putting    off    outgrown,    wornout,    or    soiled    gar-   12 
ments  —  the    pleasures    and    pains    of    sensation    and    the 
sackcloth   of    waiting  —  for   the    springtide   of    Soul.      For 
what  a  man  seeth  he  hopeth  not  for,  but  hopeth  for  what   15 
he   hath   not   seen,    and   waiteth   patiently   the   appearing 
thereof.    The  night  is  far  spent,  and  day  is  not  distant  in 
the    horizon   of    Truth  —  even    the    day   when    all    people   18 
shall  know  and  acknowledge  one  God  and  one  Christianity. 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 


I  Christian  Science  not  Pantheism 

At  this  period  of  enlightenment,  a  declaration  from  the 
3  pulpit  that  Christian  Science  is  pantheism  is  anomalous  to 

those   who    know    whereof    they   speak  —  who    know    that 

Christian  Science  is  Science,  and  therefore  is  neither 
6  hypothetical      nor      dogmatical,     but     demonstrable,  and 

looms    above    the    mists    of    pantheism    higher    than    Mt. 

Ararat  above  the  deluge. 

9  Analysis  of  "  Pantheism  " 

According    to   Webster   the   word    "  pantheism "    is   de- 
rived from  two  Greek  words  meaning  "  all  "  and  "  god.'' 

12  Webster's  derivation  of  the  English  word  "  pantheism  "  is 
most  suggestive.  His  uncapitalized  word  "  god "  gives 
the  meaning  of  pantheism  as  a  human  opinion  of  "  gods 

IS  many,"  or  mind  in  matter.  "  The  doctrine  that  the  uni- 
verse, conceived  of  as  a  whole,  is  God;  that  there  is  no 
God  but  the  combined  forces  and  laws  which  are  mani- 

i8  fested  in  the  existing  universe." 

The  Standard  Dictionary  has  it  that  pantheism  is  the 
doctrine  of  the  deification  of  natural  causes,  conceived  as 

21  one  personified  nature,  to  which  the  religious  sentiment  is 
directed. 

Pan  is  a  Greek  prefix,  but  it  might  stand,  in  the  term 

24  pantheism,  for  the  mythological  deity  of  that  name;  and 
theism  for  a  belief  concerning  Deity  in  theology.  How- 
ever, Pan  in  imagery  is  preferable  to  pantheism  in  theology. 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM     3 

The  mythical  deity  may  please  the  fancy,  while  pantheism     1 
suits  not  at  all  the  Christian  sense  of  religion.     Pan,  as  a 
deity,  is  supposed  to  preside  over  sylvan  solitude,  and  is  a     3 
horned  and  hoofed  animal,  half  goat  and  half  man,  that 
poorly  presents  the  poetical  phase  of  the  genii  of  forests.^ 

My  sense  of  nature's  rich  glooms  is,  that  loneness  lacks     6 
but   one   charm   to   make   it   half   divine  —  a   friend,   with 
whom   to   whisper,    "  Solitude   is   sweet."     Certain   moods 
of   mind    find    an    indefinable    pleasure    in    stillness,    soft,     9 
silent  as  the   storm's  sudden   hush;    for  nature's  stillness 
is  voiced  with  a  hum  of  harmony,  the  gentle  murmur  of 
early  morn,  the  evening's  closing  vespers,  and  lyre  of  bird  12 
and  brooklet. 

"  O  sacred  solitude!    divine  retreat! 
Choice  of  the  prudent!     envy  of  the  great!  15 

By  thy  pure  stream,  or  in  thy  evening  shade, 
We  court  fair  wisdom,  that  celestial  maid." 

Theism  is  the  belief  in  the  personality  and  infinite  mind   18 
of  one  supreme,  holy,  self-existent  God,  who  reveals  Him- 
self  supernaturally   to   His   creation,   and   whose   laws   are 
not  reckoned  as  science.     In  religion,  it  is  a  belief  in  one   21 
God,   or   in   many   gods.      It   is   opposed   to   atheism   and 

^  In    Roman    mythology    (one   of   my    girlhood   studies),    Pan   stood 
for    "  universal  nature    proceeding    from    the    divine    Mind    and    provi-    24 
dence,  of  which  heaven,  earth,  sea,  the  eternal  iire,  are  so  many  mem- 
bers."     Pan    was    the    god    of   shepherds    and    hunters,    leader    of   the 
nymphs,  president  of  the  mountains,  patron  of  countr>'  life,  and  guar-    27 
dian  of  flocks  and  herds.     His  pipe  of  seven  reeds  denotes  the  celestial 
harmony   of   the    seven   planets;      his   shepherd's   crook,   that   care   and 
providence   by  which   he   governs  the   universe;    his  spotted   skin,   the    30 
stars;     his   goat's    feet,    the   solidity   of   the   earth;     his   man-face,   the 
celestial  world. 


4    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  monotheism,  but  agrees  with  certain  forms  of  pantheism 
and  polytheism.     It  is  the  doctrine  that  the  universe  owes 

3  its  origin  and  continuity  to  the  reason,  intellect,  and  will  of 
a  self-existent  divine  Being,  who  possesses  all  wisdom, 
goodness,  and  power,  and  is  the  creator  and  preserver  of 

6  man. 

A  theistic  theological  belief  may  agree  with  physics  and 
anatomy   that   reason   and   will   are   properly   classified   as 

9  mind,  located  in  the  brain;  also,  that  the  functions  of 
these  faculties  depend  on  conditions  of  matter,  or  brain, 
for  their  proper  exercise.  But  reason  and  will  are  human; 
12  God  is  divine.  In  academics  and  in  religion  it  is  patent 
that  will  is  capable  of  use  and  of  abuse,  of  right  and  wrong 
action,  while  God  is  incapable  of  evil;  that  brain  is  matter, 
IS  and  that  there  are  many  so-called  minds;  that  He  is  the 
creator  of  man,  but  that  man  also  is  a  creator,  making 
two  creators;    but  God  is  Mind  and  one. 

i8  God  —  NOT  Human  Devices  —  the  Preserver 

OF  Man 

God,  Spirit,  is  indeed  the  preserver  of  man.     Then,  in 

21  the  words  of  the  Hebrew  singer,  "  Why  art  thou  cast  down, 

O  my  soul?   and  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me?   hope 

thou  in  God:   for  I  shall  yet  praise  Him,  who  is  the  health 

24  of    my    countenance,    and    my    God.  .  .  .  Who    forgiveth 

all  thine  iniquities;    who  healeth  all  thy  diseases."     This 

being  the  case,  what  need  have  we  of  drugs,  hygiene,  and 

27  medical    therapeutics,    if    these   are   not   man's   preservers? 

By   admitting    self-evident   affirmations   and    then   contra- 


CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM     5 

dieting  them,  monotheism  is  lost  and  pantheism  is  found     i 
in   scholastic    theology.        Can   a    single    quality   of    God, 
Spirit,   be   discovered  in  matter?     The   Scriptures  plainly     3 
declare,   "  The   Word   was    God; "    and    "  all    things   were 
made   by   Him,"  —  the   Word.     What,    then,    can   matter 
create,  or  how  can  it  exist?  6 

Jesus'  Definition  of  Evil 

Did   God   create   evil?    or   is   evil   self-existent,   and   so 
possessed  of  the  nature  of  God,  good?     Since  evil  is  not     9 
self-made,    who   or   what   hath   made    evil?     Our   Master 
gave  the  proper  answer  for  all  time  to  this  hoary  query. 
He  said  of  evil:   "  Ye  are  of  your  father,  the  devil,  and  the   12 
lusts  of  your  father  ye  will  do.     He  was  a  murderer  from 
the  beginning,  and  abode  not  in  the  truth  [God],  because 
there  is  no  truth  [reality]  in  him  [evil].    When  he  speaketh   15 
a  lie,  he  speaketh  of  his  own:  for  he  is  a  liar,  and  the  father 
of  it  [a  lie]." 

Jesus'  definition  of  devil    (evil)  explains  evil.     It  shows   18 
that  evil  is  both  liar  and  lie,  a  delusion  and  illusion.    There- 
fore we  should  neither  believe  the  lie,  nor  believe  that  it 
hath  embodiment   or  power;    in  other  words,   we   should   21 
not  believe  that  a  lie,  nothing,  can  be  something,  but  deny 
it  and  prove  its  falsity.    After  this  manner  our  Master  cast 
out   evil,   healed    the    sick,    and   saved    sinners.      Knowing   24 
that  evil  is  a  lie,  and,  as  the  Scripture  declares,  brought 
sin,  sickness,  and  death  into  the  world,  Jesus  treated  the 
he  summarily.     He  denied  it,  cast  it  out  of  mortal  mind,   27 
and  thus  healed  sickness  and  sin.     His  treatment  of  evil 


6  IMESSAGE  TO  THE   [MOTHER   CHURCH 

and  disease,  Science  will  restore  and  establish,  —  first, 
because  it  was  more  effectual  than  all  other  means;  and, 
second,  because  evil  and  disease  will  never  disappear  in 
any  other  way. 

Finally,  brethren,  let  us  continue  to  denounce  evil  as  the 
illusive  claim  that  God  is  not  supreme,  and  continue  to 
fight  it  until  it  disappears,  —  but  not  as  one  that  beateth 
the  mist,  but  lifteth  his  head  above  it  and  putteth  his  foot 
upon  a  lie. 


Evil,  as  Personified  by  the  Serpent 

Mosaic   theism  introduces  evil,   first,   in   the   form  of  a 

12  talking  serpent,  contradicting  the  word  of  God  and  thereby 
obtaining  social  prestige,  a  large  following,  and  changing 
the  order  and  harmony  of  God's  creation.     But  the  highei 

IS  criticism  is  not  satisfied  with  this  theism,  and  asks,  If  God 
is  infinite  good,  what  and  where  is  evil?  And  if  Spirit 
made  all  that  was  made,  how  can  matter  be  an  intelligent 

i8  creator  or  coworker  with  God?  Again:  Did  one  Mind, 
or  two  minds,  enter  into  the  Scriptural  allegory,  in  the 
colloquy  between  good  and  evil,  God  and  a  serpent?  —  and 

21  if  two  minds,  what  becomes  of  theism  in  Christianity?  For 
if  God,  good,  is  Mind,  and  evil  also  is  mind,  the  Christian 
religion  has  at  least  two  Gods.     If  Spirit  is  sovereign,  how 

24  can  matter  be  force  or  law;  and  if  God,  good,  is  omnipo- 
tent, what  power  hath  evil? 

It  is  plain  that  elevating  evil  to  the  altitude  of  mind  gives 

27  it  power,  and  that  the  belief  in  more   than  one  spirit,  if 


CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM     7 

Spirit,   God,  is  infinite,  breaketh  the  First  Commandment     i 
in  the  Decalogue. 

Science   shows   that  a  plurality  of  minds,   or  intelligent     3 
matter,  signifies  more  than  one  God.  and  thus  prevents  the 
demonstration    that   the   healing   Christ,   Truth,   gave   and 
gives  in  proof  of  the  omnipotence  of    one  divine,  infinite     6 
Principle. 

Does  not  the  theism  or  belief,  that  after  God,  Spirit,  had 
created    all    things    spiritually,    a    material    creation    took     9 
place,  and  God,  the  preserver  of  man,  declared  that  man 
should  die,  lose  the  character  and  sovereignty  of  Jehovah, 
and  hint  the  gods  of  paganism?  12 

Theistic  Religions 

;    We  know  of  but  three  theistic  religions,  the  Mosaic,  the 
,  Christian,  and  the  Mohammedan.     Does  not  each  of  these    15 
J-eligions  mystify  the  absolute  oneness  and  infinity  of  God, 
Spirit? 

A  close  study  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  in  con-    18 
nection  with  the  original  text  indicates,  in  the  third  chap- 
ter  of    Genesis,    a   lapse   in    the   Mosaic    religion,    wherein 
theism   seems   meaningless,    or   a   vague   apology   for   con-   21 
tradictions.     It  certainly  gives  to  matter  and  evil  reality 
and    power,    intelligence    and    law,    which    implies    Mind, 
Spirit,  God;    and  the  logical  sequence  of  this  error  is  idol-    24 
atry  —  other  gods. 

Again:    The  h\-po thesis  of  mind  in  matter,  or  more  than 
one  Mind,  lapses  into  evil  dominating  good,  matter  govern-   27 
ing  Mind,  and  makes  sin,   disease,   and  death  inevitable. 


8    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  despite  of  ]Mind,  or  by  the  consent  of  Mind!  Next,  it 
follows  that  the  disarrangement  of  matter  causes  a  man  to 

3  be  mentally  deranged;  and  the  Babylonian  sun  god,  moon 
god,  and  sin  god  find  expression  in  sun  worship,  lunacy, 
sin,  and  mortality. 

6  Does  not  the  belief  that  Jesus,  the  man  of  Galilee,  is 
God,  imply  two  Gods,  one  the  divine,  infinite  Person,  the 
other   a    human    finite   personality?       Does  not  the  belief 

9  that  Mary  was  the  mother  of  God  deny  the  self-existence 
of  God?  and  does  not  the  doctrine  that  Mohammed  is 
the  only  prophet  of  God  infringe  the  sacredness  of  one 
12   Christ  Jesus? 

Scientific  Christianity  Means  One  God 

Christianity,    as    taught   and    demonstrated   in    the    first 

IS  century  by  our  great  Master,  virtually  annulled  the  so- 
called  laws  of  matter,  idolatry,  pantheism,  and  polytheism. 
Christianity    then    had    one    God    and    one    law,    namely, 

i8  divine  Science.  It  said,  "  Call  no  man  your  father  upon 
the  earth,  for  one  is  your  Father,  which  is  in  heaven." 
Speaking  of  himself,   Jesus   said,    "  My   Father  is  greater 

21  than  I."  Christianity,  as  he  taught  and  demonstrated  it, 
must  ever  rest  on  the  basis  of  the  First  Commandment  and 
love  for  man. 

24  The  doctrines  that  embrace  pantheism,  polytheism,  and 
paganism  are  admixtures  of  matter  and  Spirit,  truth  and 
error,  sickness  and  sin,  life  and  death.     They  make  man 

2  7  the  servant  of  matter,  living  by  reason  of  it,  suffering  be- 
cause of  it,  and  dying  in  consequence  of  it.     They  con- 


CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM     9 

stantly  reiterate  the  belief  of  pantheism,  that  mind  "  sleeps     i 
in  the  mineral,  dreams  in  the  animal,  and  wakes  in  man." 

"  Infinite  Spirit  "  means  one  God  and  His  creation,  and     3 
no  reality  in  aught  else.     The  term  "  spirits  "  means  more 
than  one   Spirit;  —  in  paganism   they  stand   for  gods;    in 
spiritualism  they  imply  men  and  women;   and  in  Christian-     6 
ity  they  signify  a  good  Spirit  and  an  evil  spirit. 

Is  there  a  religion  under  the  sun  that  hath  demonstrated 
one  God  and  the  four  first  rules  pertaining  thereto,  namely,     g 
"Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me;"    "Love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself; "    "  Be  ye   therefore  perfect,  even  as 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect;"    "Whosoever  12 
liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die."      (John  xi.   26.) 

What  mortal   to-day  is   wise    enough   to   do   himself   no 
harm,    to   hinder   not   the    attainment    of    scientific    Chris-   15 
tianity?     Whoever  demonstrates    the  highest  humanity,  — 
long-suffering,    self-surrender,     and    spiritual    endeavor    to 
bless   others,  —  ought   to    be    aided,    not   hindered,    in   his   18 
holy  mission.     I  would  kiss   the  feet  of  such  a  messenger, 
for  to  help  such  a  one  is  to  help  one's  self.     The  demon- 
stration of  Christianity  blesses  all  mankind.     It  loves  one's  21 
neighbor   as   one's   self;     it   loves    its    enemies  —  and    this 
love  benefits  its  enemies   (though  they  believe  it  not),  and 
rewards  its  possessor;   for,  "  If  ye  love  them  which  love  you,   24 
what  reward  have  ye?  " 

Man  the  True  Image  of  God 

From   a  material  standpoint,   the   best  of  people   some-   27 
times  object  to  the  philosophy  of  Christian  Science,  on  the 


lo   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  ground   that  it   takes  away  man's  personality  and  makes 
man  less  than  man.     But  what  saith  the  apostle?  —  even 
3   this:    "  If  a  man  think  himself  to  be  something,  when  he  is 
nothing,    he    deceiveth    himself."      The    great    Nazarene 
Prophet  said,  "  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them:  "  then, 
6  if   the   effects   of    Christian   Science   on   the   lives   of  men 
be   thus   judged,    we   are   sure   the   honest  verdict   of   hu- 
manity will  attest  its  uplifting  power,  and  prevail  over  the 
9  opposite   notion   that    Christian   Science   lessens  man's  in- 
dividuality. 
The   students   at   the   JNIassachusetts   JMetaphysical   Col- 

12  lege,  generally,  were  the  average  man  and  woman.  But 
after  graduation,  the  best  students  in  the  class  averred 
that  they  were  stronger  and  better  than  before  it.    With 

IS  twelve  lessons  or  less,  the  present  and  future  of  those  stu- 
dents had  wonderfully  broadened  and  brightened  before 
them,  thus  proving  the  utility  of  what  they  had  been  taught. 

i8  Christian  Scientists  heal  functional,  organic,  chronic,  and 
acute  diseases  that  M.D.'s  have  failed  to  heal;  and, 
better  still,  they  reform  desperate   cases  of  intemperance, 

21  tobacco  using,  and  immorality,  which,  we  regret  to  say, 
other  religious  teachers  are  unable  to  effect.  All  this  is 
accomplished   by   the   grace   of   God,  —  the  effect  of   God 

24  'understood.  A  higher  manhood  is  manifest,  and  never 
lost,  in  that  individual  who  finds  the  highest  joy,  —  there- 
fore  no  pleasure   in   loathsome   habits   or   in   sin,   and   no 

2  7  necessity  for  disease  and  death.  Whatever  promotes 
statuesque  being,  health,  and  holiness  does  not  degrade 
man's  personality.     Sin,   sickness,  appetites,  and  passions, 

30  constitute  no  part  of  man,  but  obscure  man.    Therefore  it 


CHRISTIAN   SCIENXE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM     ii 

required  the  divinity  of  our  [Master  to  perceive  the  real     i 
man,  and  to  cast  out  the  unreal  or  counterfeit.     It  caused 
St.  Paul  to  write,  —  "  Lie  not  one  to  another,  seeing  that     3 
ye  have  put  off  the  old  man  with  his  deeds;    and  have  put 
on   the   new   man,   \\hich   is   renewed   in   knowledge   after 
the  image  of  Him  that  created  him."  6 

Was   our   Master  mistaken   in   judging   a   cause   by   its 
eflfects?     Shall  the  opinions,  systems,  doctrines,  and  dog- 
mas of  men  gauge  the  animus  of  man?    or  shall  his  stature     9 
in   Christ,  Truth,   declare  him?     Governed  by  the  divine 
Principle   of    his    being,    man   is    perfect.      When   will    the 
schools  allow  mortals   to   turn   from  clay  to   Soul  for  the   12 
model?      The    Science    of    being,    understood    and    obeyed, 
will  demonstrate  man  to  be  superior  to  the  best  church- 
member  or  moralist  on   earth,   who  understands   not   this    15 
Science.     If  man  is  spiritually  fallen,  it  matters  not  what 
he  believes;    he  is  not  upright,  and  must  regain  his  native 
spiritual  stature  in  order  to  be  in  proper  shape,  as  certainly   18 
as  the  man  who  falls  physically  needs  to  rise  again. 

Mortals^  content  with  something  less  than  perfection  — 
the  original  standard  of  man  —  may  believe  that  evil  de-  21 
velops  good,  and  that  whatever  strips  off  evil's  disguise  be- 
littles man's  personality.  But  God  enables  us  to  know  that 
evil  is  not  the  medium  of  good,  and  that  good  supreme  de-  24 
stroys  all  sense  of  evil,  obliterates  the  lost  image  that 
mortals  are  content  to  call  man,  and  demands  man's  un- 
f alien  spiritual  perfectibility.  27 

The  grand  realism  that  man  is  the  true  image  of  God, 
not  fallen  or  inverted,  is  demonstrated  by  Christian  Science. 
And    because    Christ's    dear    demand,    "  Be    ye    therefore   30 


12   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  perfect,"  is  valid,  it  will  be  found  possible  to  fulfil  it.  Then 
also  will  it  be  learned  that  good  is  not  educed  from  evil, 

3  but  comes  from  the  rejection  of  evil  and  its  modus  operatidi. 
Our  scholarly  expositor  of  the  Scriptures,  Lyman  Abbott, 
D.D.,  writes,   "  God,   Spirit,  is  ever  in  universal  nature." 

6  Then,  we  naturally  ask,  how  can  Spirit  be  constantly  pass- 
ing out  of  mankind  by  death  —  for  the  universe  includes 
man? 

g  The  Grandeur  of  Christianity 

This  closing  century,  and  its  successors,  will  make  strong 
claims  on  religion,  and  demand  that  the  inspired  Scriptural 

12  commands  be  fulfilled.  The  altitude  of  Christianity  open- 
eth,  high  above  the  so-called  laws  of  matter,  a  door  that  no 
man  can  shut;   it  showeth  to  all  peoples  the  way  of  escape 

IS  from  sin,  disease,  and  death;  it  lifteth  the  burden  of  sharp 
experience  from  off  the  heart  of  humanity,  and  so  lighteth 
the  path  that  he  who  entereth  it  may  run  and  not  weary, 

i8  and  walk,  not  wait  by  the  roadside,  —  yea,  pass  gently  on 
without  the  alterative  agonies  whereby  the  way-seeker 
gains  and  points  the  path. 

21  The  Science  of  Christianity  is  strictly  monotheism, — 
it  has  ONE  GOD.  And  this  divine  infinite  Principle, 
noumenon    and    phenomena,    is    demonstrably    the    self- 

24  existent  Life,  Truth,  Love,  substance.  Spirit,  Mind,  which 
includes  all  that  the  term  implies,  and  is  all  that  is  real  and 
eternal.       Christian     Science     is     irrevocable  —  unpierced 

2  7  by  bold  conjecture's  sharp  point,  by  bald  philosophy,  or 
by  man's  inventions.     It  is  divinely  true,  and  every  hour 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE   VERSUS   PANTHEISM     13 

in  time  and  in  eternity  wiU  witness  more  steadfastly  to  its 
practical  truth.  And  Science  is  not  pantheism,  but  Chris- 
tian Science. 

Chief  among  the  questions  herein,  and  nearest  my 
heart,  is  this:  When  shall  Christianity  be  demonstrated 
according  to  Christ,  in  these  words:  "  Neither  shall  they 
say,  Lo,  here!  or,  lo  there!  for,  behold,  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  within  you"? 


Exhortation 

Beloved  brethren,  the  love  of  our  loving  Lord  was  never 
more  manifest  than  in  its  stern  condemnation  of  all  error, 
wherever  found.  I  counsel  thee,  rebuke  and  exhort  one 
another.  Love  all  Christian  churches  for  the  gospel's 
sake;  and  be  exceedingly  glad  that  the  churches  are  united 
in  purpose,  if  not  in  method,  to  close  the  war  between 
flesh  and  Spirit,  and  to  fight  the  good  fight  till  God's  will 
be  witnessed  and  done  on  earth  as  in  heaven. 

Sooner  or  later  all  shall  know  Him,  recognize  the  great 
truth  that  Spirit  is  infinite,  and  find  life  in  Him  in  whom 
we  do  "  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being "  —  life  in 
Life,  all  in  .All.  Then  shall  all  nations,  peoples,  and 
tongues,  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  have  "  one  God  and 
Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in 
you  all."     (Ephesians  iv.  6.) 

Have  I  wearied  you  with  the  mysticism  of  opposites? 
Truly  there  is  no  rest  in  them,  and  I  have  only  traversed 
my  subject  that  you  may  prove  for  yourselves  the  unsub- 


14   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  stantial  nature  of  whatever  is  unlike  good,  weigh  a  sigh, 
and  rise  into  the  rest  of  righteousness  with  its  triumphant 

3    train. 

Once  more  I  write,  Set  your  affections  on  things  above; 
love  one  another;    commune  at  the  table  of  our  Lord  in  one 

6  spirit;  worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth;  and  if  daily  adoring, 
imploring,  and  living  the  divine  Life,  Truth,  Love,  thou 
shalt  partake  of  the  bread  that  cometh  down  from  heaven, 

Q  drink  of  the  cup  of  salvation,  and  be  baptized  in  Spirit. 

Peayer  for  Country  and  Church 
Pray  for  the  prosperity  of  our  country,  and  for  her  vic- 

[2  tory  under  arms;  that  justice,  mercy,  and  peace  continue 
to  characterize  her  government,  and  that  they  shall  rule  all 
nations.     Pray  that  the  divine  presence  may  still  guide  and 

!=;  bless  our  chief  magistrate,  those  associated  with  his  execu- 
tive trust,  and  our  national  judiciary;  give  to  our  congress 
wisdom,  and  uphold  our  nation  with  the  right  arm  of  His 

[8   righteousness. 

In   your   peaceful   homes   remember   our   brave   soldiers, 
whether  in  camp  or  in  battle.^    Oh,  may  their  love  of  coun- 

21  try,  and  their  faithful  service  thereof,  be  unto  them  life- 
preservers!  May  the  divine  Love  succor  and  protect 
them,  as  at  INIanila,  where  brave  men,  led  by  the  dauntless 

24  Dewey,  and  shielded  by  the  power  that  saved  them,  sailed 
victoriously  through  the  jaws  of  death  and  blotted  out  the 
Spanish  squadron. 

2  7       Great  occasion  have  we  to  rejoice  that  our  nation,  which 

^  This    refers    to  the    war    between    United    States    and    Spain    for 
the  liberty  of  Cuba. 


CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  VERSUS  PANTHEISM     15 

fed  her  starving  foe,  —  already  murdering  her  peaceful 
seamen  and  destroying  millions  of  her  money,  —  will  be 
as  formidable  in  war  as  she  has  been  compassionate  in 
peace. 

May  our  Father-Mother  God,  who  in  times  past  hath 
spread  for  us  a  table  in  the  wilderness  and  "  in  the  midst 
of  our  enemies,"  establish  us  in  the  most  holy  faith,  plant 
our  feet  firmly  on  Truth,  the  rock  of  Christ,  the  "  substance 
of  things  hoped  for  "  —  and  fill  us  with  the  life  and  under- 
standing of  God,  and  good  will  towards  men. 

Mary  Baker  Eddy 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE  MOTHER   CHURCH 

BOSTON,   MASS. 

June,  1900 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

BOSTON,  ]VL\SS. 
June,  1900 


BY 

MARY  BAKER  EDDY 

PASTOR    EMERITUS    AND    AUTHOR    OF    SCIENCE    AND    HEALTH 
WITH    KEY   TO   THE    SCRIPTURES 


Published  by  The 

Trustees  under  the  Will  of  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy 

BOSTON,  U.S.A. 


Authorized  Literature  of 

The  First  Church  of  Christ,  Scientist 

in  Boston,  Massachusetts 


Copyright,  igoo 
By  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy 


All  rights  reserved 


PRINTED   IN   THE    UNITED    STATES   OF   AMERICA 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE  MOTHER    CHURCH 

BOSTON,   MASS. 

June,  1900 


MESSAGE   FOR    1900 

■ji  /TY   beloved    brethren,    methinks    even    I    am    touched     i 
^^^  with    the   tone   of  your  happy  hearts,   and   can    see 
your  glad  faces,  aglow    with  gratitude,  chinked  within  the     3 
storied  walls  of  The  Mother  Church.     If,  indeed,  we  may 
be  absent  from  the  body  and  present  with  the  ever-present 
Love  filling  all  space,  time,  and  immortality  —  then  I  am     6 
with  thee,  heart  answering  to  heart,  and  mine  to  thine  in 
the  glow  of  divine  reflection. 

I  am  grateful  to  say  that  in  the  last  year  of  the  nine-  9 
teenth  century  this  first  church  of  our  denomination, 
chartered  in  1879,  is  found  crowned  with  unprecedented 
prosperity;  a  membership  of  over  sixteen  thousand  com-  12 
municants  in  unity,  with  rapidly  increasing  numbers,  rich 
spiritual  attainments,  and  right  convictions  fast  forming 
themselves  into  conduct.  15 

Christian  Science  already  has  a  hearing  and  following 
in  the  five  grand  divisions  of  the  globe;  in  Australia,  the 
Philippine  Islands,  Hawaiian  Islands;  and  in  most  of  the  18 
principal  cities,  such  as  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Washington,  Baltimore,  Charleston,  S.  C,  Atlanta,  New 
Orleans,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Denver,  Salt  Lake  City,  San  21 
Francisco,  JNIontreal,  London,  Edinburgh,  Dublin,  Paris, 
Berlin,  Rome,  Pekin.  Judging  from  the  number  of  the 
readers  of  my  books  and  those  interested  in  them,  over  a   24 


2    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

1  million  of  people  are  already  interested  in  Christian 
Science;     and    this   interest    increases.       Churches   of    this 

3  denomination  are  springing  up  in  the  above-named  cities, 
and,  thanks  to  God,  the  people  most  interested  in  this 
old-new  theme  of  redeeming  Love  are  among  the  best  people 

6  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 

The    song    of    Christian    Science    is,    "  Work  —  work  — 
work  —  watch    and    pray."      The    close    observer    reports 

Q  three    types    of    human    nature  —  the    right    thinker    and 
worker,  the  idler,  and  the  intermediate. 
The  right  thinker  works;    he  gives  little  time  to  society 

12  manners  or  matters,  and  benefits  society  by  his  example 
and  usefulness.  He  takes  no  time  for  amusement,  ease, 
frivolity;    he  earns  his  money  and  gives  it  wisely  to  the 

IS   world. 

The   wicked    idler   earns   little   and   is   stingy;      he   has 
plenty  of  means,  but  he  uses  them  evilly.     Ask  how  he 

i8  gets  his  money,  and  his  satanic  majesty  is  supposed  to 
answer  smilingly:  "  By  cheating,  lying,  and  crime;  his 
dupes  are  his  capital;    his  stock  in  trade,  the  wages  of  sin; 

21  your  idlers  are  my  busiest  workers;  they  will  leave  a 
lucrative  business  to  work  for  me."  Here  we  add:  The 
doom  of  such  workers  will  come,  and  it  will  be  more  sudden, 

24  severe,  and  lasting  than  the  adversary  can  hope. 

The    intermediate    worker    works    at    times.      He    says: 
"  It  is  my  duty  to  take  some  time  for  myself;    however,  I 

2  7  believe  in  working  when  it  is  convenient."     Well,  all  that 

is  good.     But  what  of  the  fruits  of  your  labors?     And  he 
answers:    "  I  am  not  so  successful  as  I  could  wish,  but  I 
30  work  hard  enough  to  be  so." 


MESSAGE   FOR   1900  3 

Now,  what   saith   Christian   Science?    "  When  a  man  is     i 
right,  his  thoughts  are  right,  active,  and  they  are  fruitful; 
he  loses  self  in  love,  and  cannot  hear  himself,  unless  he     3 
loses  the  chord.     The  right  thinker  and  worker  does  his 
best,  and  does  the  thinking  for  the  ages.     No  hand  that 
feels   not   his   help,    no   heart   his   comfort.      He    improves     6 
moments;   to  him  time  is  money,  and  he  hoards  this  capital 
to  distribute  gain." 

If  the  right  thinker  and  worker's  servitude  is  duly  valued,     9 
he  is  not  thereby  worshipped.     One's  idol  is  by  no  means 
his  servant,  but  his  master.     And  they  who  love  a  good 
work  or  good  workers  are  themselves  workers  who  appre-   12 
date  a  life,  and  labor  to  awake  the  slumbering  capability 
of  man.     And  what  the  best  thinker  and  worker  has  said 
and  done,  they  are  not  far  from  saying  and  doing.     As  a    is 
rule   the   Adam-race   are   not   apt   to   worship   the   pioneer 
of    spiritual    ideas,  —  but    ofttimes    to    shun   him    as    their 
tormentor.      Only   the   good   man   loves   the   right   thinker   18 
and  worker,  and  cannot  worship  him,  for  that  would  de- 
stroy this  man's  goodness. 

To-day  it  surprises  us  that  during  the  period  of  captivity   21 
the  Israelites  in  Babylon  hesitated  not  to  call  the  divine 
name     Yahwah,     afterwards     transcribed     Jehovah;      also 
that  women's  names  contained   this  divine   appellative  and    24 
so    sanctioned    idolatry,  —  other    gods.        In    the    heathen 
conception    Yahwah,    misnamed    Jehovah,    was    a    god    of 
hate  and  of  love,  who  repented  himself,  improved  on  his   27 
work  of  creation,  and  revenged  himself  upon  his  enemies. 
However,  the  animus  of   heathen  religion  was   not  the   in- 
centive of  the  devout  Jew  —  but  has  it  not  tainted  the  reli-  30 


4    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

gious  sects?  This  seedling  misnomer  couples  love  and 
hate,  good  and  evil,  health  and  sickness,  life  and  death, 
with  man  —  makes  His  opposites  as  real  and  normal  as 
the  one  God,  and  so  unwittingly  consents  to  many  minds 
and  many  gods.  This  precedent  that  would  commingle 
Christianity,  the  gospel  of  the  New  Testament  and  the 
teaching  of  the  righteous  Galilean,  Christ  Jesus,  with  the 
Babylonian  and  Neoplatonic  religion,  is  being  purged  by 
a  purer  Judaism  and  nearer  approach  to  monotheism  and 
the  perfect  worship  of  one  God. 

To-day  people  are  surprised  at  the  new  and  forward 
steps  in  religion,  which  indicate  a  renaissance  greater  than 
in  the  mediaeval  period;  but  ought  not  this  to  be  an  agree- 
able surprise,  inasmuch  as  these  are  progressive  signs  of 
the  times? 

It  should  seem  rational  that  the  only  perfect  religion  is 
divine  Science,  Christianity  as  taught  by  our  great  Master; 
that  which  leaves  the  beaten  path  of  human  doctrines  and 
is  the  truth  of  God,  and  of  man  and  the  universe.  The 
divine  Principle  and  rules  of  this  Christianity  being  de- 
monstrable, they  are  undeniable;  and  they  must  be  found 
final,  absolute,  and  eternal.  The  question  as  to  religion 
is:  Does  it  demonstrate  its  doctrines?  Do  religionists 
believe  that  God  is  One  and  All?  Then  whatever  is  real 
must  proceed  from  God,  from  Mind,  and  is  His  reflection 
and  Science.  Man  and  the  universe  coexist  with  God  in 
Science,  and  they  reflect  God  and  nothing  else.  In  divine 
Science,  divine  Love  includes  and  reflects  all  that  really 
is,  all  personality  and  individuality.  St.  Paul  beautifully 
enunciates  this  fundamental  fact  of  Deity  as  the  "  Father 


I 


MESSAGE   FOR   1900  5 

of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all."     i 
This  scientific  statement  of  the  origin,  nature,  and  govern- 
ment of  all  things  coincides  with  the  First  Commandment     3 
of   the  Decalogue,  and    leaves  no  opportunity  for  idolatry 
or  aught  besides  God,  good.     It  gives  evil  no  origin,  no 
reality.     Here  note  the  words  of  our  Master  corroborating     6 
this   as   self-evident.     Jesus   said   the   opposite   of   God  — 
good  —  named    devil  —  evil — "is   a   liar,    and    the   father 
of  it  "  —  that  is,  its  origin  is  a  myth,  a  lie.  9 

Applied  to  Deit}',   Father  and  ]Mother  are  synonymous 
terms;     they    signify    one    God.      Father,    Son,    and    Holy 
Ghost  mean  God,  man,  and  divine  Science.     God  is  self-   12 
existent,  the  essence  and  source  of  the  two  latter,  and  their 
office   is  that  of   eternal,  infinite  individuality.      I  see  no 
other  way  under  heaven  and  among  men  whereby  to  have    is 
one  God,  and  man  in  His  image  and  likeness,  loving  an- 
other as  himself.     This  being  the  divine  Science  of  divine 
Love,    it   would   enable   man    to    escape    from   idolatry   of    18 
every  kind,  to  obey  the  First  Commandment  of  the  Deca- 
logue:    "  Thou    shalt    have    no    other    gods    before    me;  " 
and  the  command  of  Christ:    "  Love  thy  neighbor  as  thy-   21 
self."     On   this   rock   Christian   Science   is  built.      It  may 
be  the   rock  which   the  builders  reject  for  a  season;    but 
it  is  the  Science  of  God  and  His  universe,  and  it  will  be-   24 
come  the  head  of  the  corner,  the  foundation  of  all  systems 
of  religion. 

The  spiritual  sense  of  the  Scriptures  understood  enables   27 
one  to  utilize  the  power  of  divine  Love  in  casting  out  God's 
opposites,  called  evils,  and  in  healing  the  sick.     Not  mad- 
ness,   but    might    and    majesty    attend    every    footstep    of  30 


6    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  Christian   Science.     There  is  no  imperfection,  no  lack  in 
the  Principle  and  rules  which  demonstrate  it.     Only  the 
3   demonstrator  can  mistake  or  fail  in  proving  its  power  and 
divinity.     In  the  words  of  St.  Paul:    '^  I  count  not  myself 
to  have  apprehended:    but  this  one  thing  I  do,  forgetting 
6  those  things  which  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth  to  those 
things  which  are  before,  I  press  toward  the  mark  for  the 
prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  "  —  in  the 
Q  true  idea  of  God.     Any  mystery  in  Christian  Science  de- 
parts when  dawns  the  spiritual  meaning  thereof;    and  the 
spiritual  sense  of  the  Scriptures  is  the  scientific  sense  which 

J 2  interprets  the  healing  Christ.  A  child  can  measurably 
understand  Christian  Science,  for,  through  his  simple  faith 
and  purity,  he  takes  in  its  spiritual  sense  that  puzzles  the 

IS  man.  The  child  not  only  accepts  Christian  Science  more 
readily  than  the  adult,  but  he  practises  it.  This  notable 
fact  proves  that  the  so-called  fog  of  this  Science  obtains 

i8  not  in  the  Science,  but  in  the  material  sense  which  the 
adult  entertains  of  it.  However,  to  a  man  who  uses  to- 
bacco,   is    profane,    licentious,    and    breaks    God's    com- 

21  mandments,  that  which  destroys  his  false  appetites  and 
lifts  him  from  the  stubborn  thrall  of  sin  to  a  meek  and 
loving  disciple  of  Christ,  clothed  and  in  his  right  mind,  is 

24  not  darkness  but  light. 

Again,  that  Christian  Science  is  the  Science  of  God  is 
proven  when,  in  the  degree  that  you  accept  it,  understand 

2  7  and  practise  it,  you  are  made  better  physically,  morally, 
and  spiritually.  Some  modern  exegesis  on  the  prophetic 
Scriptures  cites  1875  as  the  year  of  the  second  coming  of 

30  Christ.      In    that    year    the    Christian    Science    textbook, 


MESSAGE   FOR   1900  7 

"  Science  and   Health  with   Key  to   the   Scriptures,"   was     i 
first  published.     From  that  year  the  United  States  ofl&cial 
statistics   show   the   annual   death-rate    to   have    gradually     3 
diminished.       Likewise     the     religious    sentiment    has    in- 
creased;     creeds    and    dogmas    have    been    sifted,    and    a 
greater  love  of  the  Scriptures  manifested.     In  1895  it  was     6 
estimated  that  during  the  past  three  years  there  had  been 
more  Bibles  sold  than  in  all  the  other  1893  years.     JMany 
of  our  best  and  most  scholarly  men  and  women,  distin-     9 
guished  members  of  the  bar  and  bench,  press  and  pulpit, 
and  those  in  all  the  walks  of  life,  will  tell  you  they  never 
loved  the  Bible  and  appreciated  its  worth  as  they  did  after  12 
reading  "  Science  and  Health  with  Key  to  the  Scriptures." 
This  is  my  great   reward  for  having  suffered,   lived,   and 
learned,    in   a   small   degree,    the    Science    of   perfectibility   15 
through  Christ,  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life. 

Is  there  more  than  one  Christ,  and  hath  Christ  a  second 
appearing?     There   is   but   one    Christ.     And   from   ever-   18 
lasting  to  everlasting  this  Christ  is  never  absent.     In  doubt 
and  darkness  we  say  as  did  Mary  of  old:    "  I  know  not 
where   they   have   laid   him."      But   when   we   behold   the   21 
Christ  walking  the  wave  of  earth's  troubled  sea,  like  Peter 
we  believe  in  the  second  coming,   and   would   walk  more 
closely  with  Christ;    but  find  ourselves  so  far  from  the  em-    24 
bodiment  of  Truth  that  ofttimes  this  attempt  measurably 
fails,  and  we  cry,  "  Save,  or  I  perish!"     Then  the  tender, 
loving  Christ  is  found  near,  affords  help,  and  we  are  saved  27 
from  our  fears.     Thus  it  is  we  walk  here  below,  and  wait 
for  the  full  appearing  of  Christ  till  the  long  night  is  past 
and  the  morning  dawns  on  eternal  day.     Then,  if  sin  and  30 


8    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  flesh  are  put  off,  we  shall  know  and  behold  more  nearly 
the  embodied  Christ,  and  with  saints  and  angels  shall  be 
3   satisfied  to  go  on  till  we  awake  in  his  likeness. 

The    good    man    imparts    knowingly    and    unknowingly 
goodness;    but  the  evil  man  also  exhales  consciously  and 
6  unconsciously  his  evil  nature  —  hence,   be  careful  of  your 
company.     As  in  the  floral  kingdom  odors  emit  character- 
istics of  tree  and  flower,  a  perfume  or  a  poison,  so  the  hu- 
9  man    character    comes    forth    a    blessing  or  a   bane   upon 
individuals    and    society.      A    wicked    man    has    little    real 
intelligence;    he   may  steal   other  people's   good   thoughts, 
12  and   wear   the   purloined   garment   as   his   own,    till   God's 
discipline  takes  it  off  for  his  poverty  to  appear. 

Our  Master  saith  to  his  followers:    "  Bring  forth  things 
IS   new  and  old."     In  this  struggle  remember  that  sensitive- 
ness is  sometimes  selfishness,  and  that  mental  idleness  or 
apathy   is   always    egotism    and    animality.      Usefulness   is 
i8   doing  rightly  by  yourself  and  others.    We  lose  a  percentage 
due  to  our  activity  when  doing  the  work  that  belongs  to 
another.     When  a  man  begins  to  quarrel  with  himself  he 
21   stops  quarrelling  with  others.     We  must  exterminate  self 
before  we  can  successfully  war  with  mankind.     Then,  at 
last,  the  right  will  boil  over  the  brim  of  life  and  the  fire 
24   that  purifies  sense  with  Soul  will  be  extinguished.    It  is  not 
Science  for  the  wicked  to  wallow  or  the  good  to  weep. 
Learn    to    obey;     but    learn    first    what    obedience    is. 
2  7  When  God  speaks  to  you  through  one  of  His  little  ones, 
and  you  obey  the  mandate  but  retain  a  desire  to  follow 
your   own   inclinations,    that    is   not   obedience.      I   some- 
,^o  times  advise   students  not   to   do   certain  things  which   I 


MESSAGE   FOR   1900  9 

know  it  were  best  not  to  do,  and  they  comply  with  my     i 
counsel;    but,  watching  them,  I  discern  that  this  obedience 
is  contrary  to  their  inclination.     Then  I  sometimes  with-     3 
draw  that  advice  and  say:    "  You  may  do  it  if  you  de- 
sire."    But  I  say  this  not  because  it  is  the  best  thing  to 
do,    but    because    the    student    is    not    willing  —  therefore,     6 
not  ready  —  to  obey.' 

The   secret   of   Christian   Science   in   right   thinking   and 
acting  is  open  to  mankind,  but  few,  comparativ^ely,  see  it;     9 
or,  seeing  it,  shut  their  eyes  and  wait  for  a  more  convenient 
season;   or  as  of  old  cry  out:    "  Why  art  thou  come  hither 
to  torment  me  before  the  time?  "  12 

Strong  desires  bias  human  judgment  and  misguide  ac- 
tion, else  they  uplift  them.  But  the  reformer  continues 
his  lightning,  thunder,  and  sunshine  till  the  mental  at-  15 
mosphere  is  clear.  The  reformer  must  be  a  hero  at  all 
points,  and  he  must  have  conquered  himself  before  he  can 
conquer  others.  Sincerity  is  more  successful  than  genius  18 
or  talent. 

The  twentieth  century  in  the  ebb  and  flow  of  thought 
wUl  challenge   the   thinkers,   speakers,   and   workers   to  do   21 
their    best.       Whosoever   attempts    to    ostracize    Christian 
Science  will  signally  fail;   for  no  one  can  fight  against  God, 
and  win.  24 

jMy  loyal  students  will  tell  you  that  for  many  years  I 
have  desired  to  step  aside  and  to  have  some  one  take  my 
place  as  leader  of  this  mighty  movement.  Also  that  I  27 
strove  earnestly  to  fit  others  for  this  great  responsibility. 
But  no  one  else  has  seemed  equal  to  "  bear  the  burden  and 
heat  of  the  day."  30 


lo   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  Success  in  sin  is  downright  defeat.  Hatred  bites  the 
heel  of  love  that  is  treading  on  its  head.    All  that  worketh 

3  good  is  some  manifestation  of  God  asserting  and  develop- 
ing good.  Evil  is  illusion,  that  after  a  fight  vanisheth  with 
the  new  birth  of  the  greatest  and  best.    Conflict  and  perse- 

6  cution  are  the  truest  signs  that  can  be  given  of  the  greatness 
of  a  cause  or  of  an  individual,  provided  this  warfare  is 
honest  and  a  world-imposed  struggle.     Such  conflict  never 

9  ends  till  unconquerable  right  is  begun  anew,  and  hath 
gained  fresh  energy  and  final  victory. 

Certain    elements    in    human    nature    would    undermine 

12  the  civic,  social,  and  religious  rights  and  laws  of  nations 
and  peoples,  striking  at  liberty,  human  rights,  and  self- 
government  —  and  this,  too,  in  the  name  of  God,  justice, 

IS  and  humanity!  These  elements  assail  even  the  new-old 
doctrines  of  the  prophets  and  of  Jesus  and  his  disciples. 
History  shows  that  error  repeats  itself  until  it  is  extermi- 

i8  nated.  Surely  the  wisdom  of  our  forefathers  is  not  added 
but  subtracted  from  whatever  sways  the  sceptre  of  self  and 
pelf   over   individuals,    weak   provinces,   or  peoples.     Here 

21  our  hope  anchors  in  God  who  reigns,  and  justice  and  judg- 
ment are  the  habitation  of  His  throne  forever. 

Only  last  week  I  received  a  touching  token  of  unselfed 

24  manhood  from  a  person  I  never  saw.  But  since  publishing 
this  page  I  have  learned  it  was  a  private  soldier  who  sent 
to  me,  in  the  name  of  a  first  lieutenant  of  the  United  States 

2  7  infantry  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  ten  five-dollar  gold 
pieces  snuggled  in  Pears'  soap.  Surely  it  is  enough  for  a 
soldier  serving  his  country  in  that  torrid  zone  to  part  with 

30  his  soap,  but  to  send  me  some  of  his  hard-earned  money 


MESSAGE  FOR   1900  li 

cost  me  a  tear!     Yes,  and  it  gave  me  more  pleasure  than 
millions  of  money  could  have  given. 

Beloved   brethren,   have   no   discord   over  music.     Hold     3 
in  yourselves  the  true  sense  of  harmony,  and  this  sense 
will  harmonize,  unify,  and  unself  you.     Once  I  was  pas- 
sionately   fond    of    material    music,    but    jarring    elements     6 
among  musicians  weaned  me  from  this  love  and  wedded 
me  to  spiritual  music,  the  music  of  Soul.      Thus  it  is  with 
whatever  turns  mortals  away  from  earth  to  heaven;    we     9 
have  the  promise  that  "  all  things  work  together  for  good 
to  them  that  love  God,"  —  love  good.     The  human  sigh 
for  peace  and  love  is  answered  and  compensated  by  divine  12 
love.     IMusic   is  more   than   sound   in   unison.     The   deaf 
Beethoven    besieges    you    with    tones    intricate,    profound, 
commanding.     ]\Iozart  rests  you.     To  me  his  composition   15 
is   the   triumph   of   art,    for   he   measures   himself   against 
deeper  grief.     I  want  not  only  quality,  quantity,  and  vari- 
ation in  tone,  but  the  unction  of  Love.     Music  is  divine.    18 
Mind,  not  matter,  makes  music;    and  if  the  divine  tone  be 
lacking,  the  human  tone  has  no  melody  for  me.     Adelaide 
A.  Proctor  breathes  my  thought: —  21 

It  flooded  the  crimson  twilight 

Like  the  close  of  an  angel's  psalm, 
And  it  lay  on  my  fevered  spirit  24 

With  a  touch  of  infinite  calm. 

In  Revelation  St.  John  refers  to  what  "  the  Spirit  saith 
unto  the  churches."    His  allegories  are  the  highest  criticism  27 
on   all   human   action,    type,    and   system.     His   symbolic 
ethics   bravely    rebuke    lawlessness.      His    types   of   purity 


12       MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  pierce  corruption  beyond  the  power  of  the  pen.     They  are 

bursting  paraphrases  projected  from  divinity  upon  human- 

3   ity,  the  spiritual  import  whereof  ''  holdeth  the  seven  stars 

in  His  right  hand  and  walketh  in  the  midst  of  the  seven 

golden    candlesticks "  —  the    radiance    of    glorified    Being. 

6       In    Revelation,    second    chapter,    his    messages    to    the 

churches  commence  with  the  church  of  Ephesus.     History 

records  Ephesus  as  an  illustrious  city,  the  capital  of  Asia 

Q  Minor.      It   especially   flourished   as   an   emporium   in   the 

time   of   the   Roman   Emperor   Augustus.      St.    Paul's   life 

furnished    items    concerning    this    city.      Corresponding    to 

12  its  roads,  its  gates,  whence  the  Ephesian  elders  travelled  to 
meet  St.  Paul,  led  northward  and  southward.  At  the  head 
of  the  harbor  was  the  temple  of  Diana,  the  tutelary  divinity 

15  of  Ephesus.  The  earlier  temple  Avas  burned  on  the  night 
that  Alexander  the  Great  was  born.  Magical  arts  pre- 
vailed   at    Ephesus;     hence    the    Revelator's    saying:     "  I 

1 8  have  somewhat  against  thee,  because  thou  hast  left  thy 
first  love  .  .  .  and  will  remove  thy  candlestick  out  of  his 
place,  except  thou  repent."     This  prophecy  has  been  ful- 

21  filled.  Under  the  influence  of  St.  Paul's  preaching  the 
magical  books  in  that  city  were  publicly  burned.  It  were 
well  if  we  had  a  St.  Paul  to  purge  our  cities  of  charlatanism. 

24  During  St.  Paul's  stay  in  that  city  —  over  two  years  —  he 
labored  in  the  synagogue,  in  the  school  of  Tyrannus,  and 
also  in  private  houses.     The  entire  city  is  now  in  ruins. 

2  7  The  Revelation  of  St.  John  in  the  apostolic  age  is  sym- 
bolic, rather  than  personal  or  historical.  It  refers  to  the 
Hebrew  Balaam  as  the  devourer  of  the  people.     Nicolaitan 

30  church  presents  the  phase  of  a  great  controversy,  ready  to 


MESSAGE   FOR   1900  13 

destroy  the  unity  and  the  purity  of  the  church.     It  is  said     i 
"  a  controversy  was  inevitable  when  the  Gentiles  entered 
the  church  of  Christ "  in  that  city.     The  Revelator  com-     3 
mends  the  church  at  Ephesus  by  saying:    "  Thou  hatest 
the  deeds  of  the  Nicolaitanes,  which  I  also  hate."     It  is 
written  of  this  church  that  their  words  were  brave  and  their     6 
deeds  e\dl.     The  orgies  of  their  idolatrous  feasts  and  their 
impurities  were  part  of  a  system  supported  by  their  doc- 
trine   and    their    so-called    prophetic    illumination.      Their     9 
distinctive  feature  the  apostle  justly   regards    as    heathen, 
and  so  he  denounces  the  Nicolaitan  church. 

Alexander  the   Great  founded  the  city  of  Smyrna,  and   12 
after  a  series  of  wars  it  was  taken  and  sacked.    The  Reve- 
lator writes  of  this  church  of  Smyrna:    "  Be  thou  faithful 
unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life."    A  glad   15 
promise  to  such  as  wait  and  weep. 

The  city  of  Pergamos  was  devoted  to  a  sensual  worship. 
There  iEsculapius,  the  god  of  medicine,  acquired  fame;  18 
and  a  serpent  was  the  emblem  of  /Esculapius.  Its  medical 
practice  included  charms  and  incantations.  The  Reve- 
lator refers  to  the  church  in  this  city  as  dwelling  "  where  21 
Satan's  seat  is."  The  Pergamene  church  consisted  of  the 
school  of  Balaam  and  .Esculapius,  idolatry  and  medicine. 

The  principal  deit}'  in  the  city  of  Thyatira  was  Apollo.    24 
Smith  writes:    "  In  this  city  the  amalgamation  of  different 
pagan   religions   seems   not   to   have   been   wholly   discoun- 
tenanced    by     the     authorities     of     the     Juda;o-Christian   27 
church." 

The    Revelator   speaks   of    the   angel   of    the   church   in 
Philadelphia  as  being  bidden  to  write  the  approval  of  this  30 


14   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

church   by   our   Master  —  he   saith:     "Thou   hast   a   little 
strength,  and  hast  kept  my  word,  and  hast  not  denied  my 

3  name.  Behold,  I  will  make  them  of  the  synagogue  of 
Satan  ...  to  know  that  I  have  loved  thee.  .  .  .  Hold 
that  fast  which  thou  hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown." 
6  He  goes  on  to  portray  seven  churches,  the  full  number 
of  days  named  in  the  creation,  which  signifies  a  complete 
time  or  number  of  whatever  is  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures. 
9  Beloved,  let  him  that  hath  an  ear  (that  discerneth  spirit- 
ually) heai  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches;  and 
seek  thou   the  divine  import  of   the   Revelator's   vision  — 

12  and  no  other.  Note  his  inspired  rebuke  to  all  the  churches 
except  the  church  in  Philadelphia  —  the  name  whereof 
signifies   "  brotherly  love."      I   call  your  attention  to   this 

IS  to  remind  you  of  the  joy  you  have  had  in  following  the 
more  perfect  way,  or  Golden  Rule:  "As  ye  would  that 
men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye."    Let   no  root  of  bitterness 

i8  spring  up  among  you,  but  hold  in  your  full  hearts  fervently 
the  charity  that  seeketh  not  only  her  own,  but  another's 
good.     The  angel  that  spake  unto  the  churches  cites  Jesus 

21  as  "he  that  hath  the  key  of  David;  that  openeth  and  no 
man  shutteth,  and  shutteth  and  no  man  openeth;  "  in 
other  words,  he  that  toiled  for  the  spiritually  indispensable. 

24  At  all  times  respect  the  character  and  philanthropy  of 
the  better  class  of  M.D.'s  —  and  if  you  are  stoned  from 
the  pulpit,  say  in  your  heart  as  the  devout  St.  Stephen  said: 

27   "  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge." 

When  invited  to  a  feast  you  naturally  ask  who  are  to  be 
the  guests.     And  being  told   they  are   distinguished  indi- 
go viduals,  you  prepare  accordingly  for  the  festivity.     Putting 


MESSAGE  FOR   1900  15 

aside  the  old  garment,  you  purchase,  at  whatever  price,  a     i 
new  one  that  is  up  to  date.     To-day  you  have  come  to  a 
sumptuous  feast,  to  one  that  for  many  years  has  been  await-     3 
ing  you.     The  guests  are  distinguished  above  human  title 
and  this  feast  is  a  Passover.     To  sit  at  this  table  of  their 
Lord  and  partake  of  what  divine  Love  hath  prepared  for     6 
them.    Christian   Scientists  start   forward   with   true   ambi- 
tion.    The  Passover,  spiritually  discerned,  is  a  wonderful 
passage   over   a    tear-filled   sea   of    repentance  —  which   of     9 
all  human  experience  is  the  most  divine;    and  after  this 
Passover  cometh  victory,  faith,  and  good  works. 

WTien  a  supercilious  consciousness  that  saith  "  there  is  12 
no   sin,"   has   awakened   to  see  through  sin's  disguise   the 
claim  of  sin,  and  thence  to  see  that  sin  has  no  claim,  it 
yields  to  sharp  conviction  —  it  sits  in  sackcloth  —  it  waits   15 
in  the  desert  —  and  fasts  in  the  ^^ilderness.     But  all  this 
time    divine    Love    has    been    preparing    a    feast    for    this 
awakened  consciousness.     To-day  you  have  come  to  Love's   18 
feast,  and  you  kneel  at  its  altar.    May  you  have  on  a  wed- 
ding garment  new  and  old,  and  the  touch  of  the  hem  of 
this  garment  heal  the  sick  and  the  sinner!  21 

In  the  words  of  St.  John,  may  the  angel  of  The  Mother 
Church  write  of  this  church:    "  Thou  hast  not  left  thy  first 
love,  I  know  thy  works,  and  charity,  and  service,  and  faith,    24. 
and  thy  patience,  and  thy  works;    and  the  last  to  be  more 
than  the  first." 

Watch!    till  the  storms  are  o'er —  27 

The  cold  blasts  done, 
The  reign  of  heaven  begun, 

And  love,  the  evermore.  30 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

BOSTON,     MASS. 

June,    1 90 1 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE     MOTHER    CHURCH 

BOSTON,   MASS. 
June,  1901 


BY 

MARY  BAKER  EDDY 

PASTOR    EMERITUS    AND    AUTHOR    OF    SCIENCE    AND    HEALTH 
WITH    KEY   TO   THE    SCRIPTURES 


Published  by  The 

Trustees  under  the  Will  of  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy 

BOSTON,  U.S.A. 


Authorized  Literature  of 

The  First  Church  of  Christ,  Scientist 

in  Boston,  Massachusetts 


Copyright,  igoi 
By  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy 


All  rights  reserved 


PRINTED   IN   THE    UNITED   STATES  OF   AMERICA 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE  MOTHER   CHURCH 

BOSTON,     MASS. 

June,    1 90 1 


MESSAGE    FOR    1901 


"DELOVED     brethren,    to-day    I    extend    my    heart-and     i 
•'-'   hand-fellowship  to  the  faithful,  to  those  whose  hearts 
have   been  beating   through   the  mental  avenues  of  man-     3 
kmd  for   God  and  humanity;    and   rest  assured  you  can 
never  lack  God's  outstretched  arm  so  long  as  you  are  in 
His   service.      Our    first    communion    in    the    new    century     6 
finds   Christian   Science   more   extended,   more   rapidly  ad- 
vancing, better  appreciated,  than  ever  before,  and  nearer 
the  whole  world's  acceptance.  9 

To-day  you  meet  to  commemorate  in  unity  the  Kfe  of 
our  Lord,  and  to  rise  higher  and  still  higher  in  the  indi- 
vidual consciousness  most  essential  to  your  growth  and  12 
usefulness;  to  add  to  your  treasures  of  thought  the  great 
reahties  of  being,  which  constitute  mental  and  physical 
perfection.  The  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  refresh-  15 
ment  and  invigoration  of  the  human  in  communion  with 
the  Divine,  have  brought  you  hither. 

All  that  is  true  is  a  sort  of  necessity,  a  portion  of  the   18 
primal  reality  of  things.     Truth  comes  from  a  deep  sin- 
cerity that  must  always  characterize  heroic  hearts;    it  is 
the  better  side  of  man's  nature  developing  itself.  21 

As  Christian  Scientists  you  seek  to  define  God  to  your 
own  consciousness  by  feeling  and  applying  the  nature  and 
practical  possibilities  of  divine  Love:    to  gain  the  absolute    24 


2    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

and  supreme  certainty  that  Christianity  is  now  what  Christ 
Jesus  taught  and  demonstrated  —  health,  holiness,  im- 
mortality. The  highest  spiritual  Christianity  in  individual 
lives  is  indispensable  to  the  acquiring  of  greater  power  in 
the  perfected  Science  of  healing  all  manner  of  diseases. 

We  know  the  healing  standard  of  Christian  Science  was 
and  is  traduced  by  trying  to  put  into  the  old  garment  the 
new-old  cloth  of  Christian  healing.  To  attempt  to  twist 
the  fatal  magnetic  element  of  human  will  into  harmony 
with  divine  power,  or  to  substitute  good  words  for  good 
deeds,  a  fair  seeming  for  right  being,  may  suit  the  weak  or 
the  worldly  who  find  the  standard  of  Christ's  healing  too 
high  for  them.  Absolute  certainty  in  the  practice  of  divine 
metaphysics  constitutes  its  utility,  since  it  has  a  divine  and 
demonstrable  Principle  and  rule  —  if  some  fall  short  of 
Truth,  others  will  attain  it,  and  these  are  they  who  \\ill 
adhere  to  it.  The  feverish  pride  of  sects  and  systems  is 
the  death's-head  at  the  feast  of  Love,  but  Christianity  is 
ever  storming  sin  in  its  citadels,  blessing  the  poor  in  spirit 
and  keeping  peace  with  God. 

What  Jesus'  disciples  of  old  experienced,  his  followers 
of  to-day  will  prove,  namely,  that  a  departure  from  the 
direct  line  in  Christ  costs  a  return  under  difficulties;  dark- 
ness, doubt,  and  unrequited  toil  will  beset  all  their  return- 
ing footsteps.  Only  a  firm  foundation  in  Truth  can  give 
a  fearless  wing  and  a  sure  reward. 

The  history  of  Christian  Science  explains  its  rapid 
growth.  In  my  church  of  over  twenty-one  thousand  six 
hundred  and  thirty-one  communicants  (two  thousand  four 
hundred  and  ninety-six  of  whom  have  been  added  since 


I 
I 


MESSAGE   FOR    1901  3 

last  November)  there  spring  spontaneously  the  higher  hope,     i 
and   increasing   virtue,    fervor,    and   fidelity.      The    special 
benediction    of    our    Father-Mother    God    rests    upon    this     3 
hour:    "  Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  revile  you,  and  per- 
secute you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of.  evil  against  you 
falsely,  for  my  sake."  6 

God  is  the  Infinite  Person 

We  hear  it  said  the   Christian  Scientists  have  no   God  , 
because  their  God  is  not  a  person.     Let  us  examine  this.     9 
The  loyal  Christian  Scientists  absolutely  adopt  Webster's 
definition  of  God,  "  A  Supreme  Being,"  and  the  Standard 
dictionary's  definition  of  God,   "  The  one  Supreme  Being,   la 
self-existent  and  eternal."     Also,  we  accept  God,  emphati- 
cally, in  the  higher  definition  derived  from  the  Bible,  and 
this  accords  with  the  literal  sense  of  the  lexicons:    "  God  is    15 
Spirit,"  "  God  is  Love."     Then,  to  define  Love  in  divine 
Science    we    use    this    phrase    for    God  —  divine    Principle. 
By  this  we  mean  Mind,  a  permanent,  fundamental,  intel-   18 
ligent,  divine  Being,  called  in  Scripture,  Spirit,  Love. 

It  is  sometimes  said:    "  God  is  Love,  but  this  is  no  argu- 
ment that  Love  is  God;    for  God  is  light,  but  light  is  not   21 
God."     The   first   proposition  is  correct,   and   is   not  lost 
by  the  conclusion,  for  Love  expresses  the  nature  of  God; 
but   the   last   proposition   does   not   illustrate   the   first,   as    24 
light,  being  matter,  loses  the  nature  of  God,  Spirit,  deserts 
its  premise,   and  expresses  God  only  in  metaphor,   there- 
fore it  is  illogical  and  the  conclusion  is  not  properly  drawn.   25- 
It  is  logical  that  because  God  is  Love,  Love  is  divine  Prin- 


4    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  ciple;     then    Love    as    either    divine    Principle    or    Person 
stands    for    God  —  for    both    have    the    nature    of    God. 
3   In   logic   the   major  premise   must   be   convertible   to   the 
minor. 

In  mathematics   four  times   three   is  twelve,   and   three 
6  times  four  is  twelve.     To  depart  from  the  rule  of  mathe- 
matics destroys  the  proof  of  mathematics;    just  as  a  de- 
parture   from    the    Principle    and    rule    of    divine    Science 
9  destroys    the    ability    to    demonstrate    Love    according    to 
Christ,  healing  the  sick;    and  you  lose  its  susceptibility  of 
scientific  proof. 
12       God  is  the  author  of  Science  —  neither  man  nor  matter 
can  be.     The   Science  of   God  must  be,  is,  divine,  predi- 
cated of  Principle  and  demonstrated  as  divine  Love;    and 
rs   Christianity  is  divine  Science,  else  there  is  no  Science  and 
no  Christianity. 

We    understand    that    God    is    personal   in    a    scientific 
i8  sense,  but  is  not  corporeal  nor  anthropomorphic.     We  un- 
derstand that  God  is  not  finite;    He  is  the  infinite  Person, 
but  not  three  persons  in  one  person.     Christian  Scientists 
21  are  theists  and  monotheists.     Those  who  misjudge  us  be- 
cause we  understand  that  God  is  the  infinite  One  instead 
of  three,  should  be  able  to  explain   God's  personality  ra- 
24  tionally.     Christian  Scientists  consistently  conceive  of  God 
as  One  because  He  is  infinite;    and  as  triune,  because  He 
is  Life,  Truth,  Love,  and  these   three  are  one  in  essence 
27  and  in  ofiice. 

If   in   calling   God   "  divine   Principle,"   meaning   divine 

Love,  more  frequently  than  Person,  we  merit  the  epithet 

30  "  godless,"  we  naturally  conclude  that  he  breaks  faith  with 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  5 

his  creed,  or  has  no  possible  conception  of  ours,  who  be-     i 
lieves  that  three  persons  are  defined  strictly  by  the  word 
Person,  or  as  One;    for  if  Person  is  God,  and  he  believes     3 
three    persons    constitute    the    Godhead,    does    not    Person 
here  lose   the   nature   of  one   God,   lose   monotheism,   and 
become  less  coherent  than  the   Christian  Scientist's  sense     6 
of  Person  as  one  divine  infinite  triune  Principle,  named  in 
the  Bible  Life,  Truth,  Love?  —  for  each  of  these  possesses 
the    nature    of    all,    and    God    omnipotent,    omnipresent,     9 
omniscient. 

;Man   is   person;     therefore   divine   metaphysics   discrimi- 
nates between  God  and  man,  the  creator  and  the  created,   12 
by  calling  one  the  divine  Principle  of  all.     This  suggests 
another  query:    Do  Christian  Scientists  believe  in  person- 
aUty?    They  do,  but  their  personality  is  defined  spiritually,    15 
not  materially  —  by  Mind,  not  by  matter.    We  do  not  blot 
out  the  material  race  of  Adam,  but  leave  all  sin  to  God's 
fiat  —  self-extinction,  and  to  the  final  manifestation  of  the   18 
real   spiritual   man   and   universe.     We   believe,   according 
to  the  Scriptures,  that  God  is  infinite  Spirit  or  Person,  and 
man    is    His   image    and   likeness:     therefore    man    reflects   21 
Spirit,  not  matter. 

We   are   not   transcendentalists   to   the   extent   of   extin- 
guishing anything  that  is  real,  good,  or  true;    for  God  and    24 
man  in  divine  Science,  or  the  logic  of  Truth,  are  coexistent 
and  eternal,  and  the  nature  of  God  must  be  seen  in  man, 
who  is  His  eternal  image  and  likeness.  27 

The  theological  God  as  a  Person  necessitates  a  creed 
to  explain  both  His  person  and  nature,  whereas  God  ex- 
plains Himself  in  Christian  Science.     Is  the  human  person,  30 


6    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  as  defined  by  Christian  Science,  more  transcendental  than 
theology's  three  divine  persons,  that  live  in  the  Father  and 

3  have  no  separate  identity?  Who  says  the  God  of  theology 
is  a  Person,  and  the  God  of  Christian  Science  is  not  a 
person,  hence  no  God?  Here  is  the  departure.  Person  is 
6  defined  differently  by  theology,  which  reckons  three  as 
one  and  the  infinite  in  a  finite  form,  and  Christian  Science, 
which  reckons  one  as  one  and  this  one  infinite. 
g  Can  the  infinite  Mind  inhabit  a  finite  form?  Is  the  God 
of  theology  a  finite  or  an  infinite  Person?  Is  He  one 
Person,   or  three  persons?      Who    can    conceive  either  of 

12  three  persons  as  one  person,  or  of  three  infinites?  We 
hear  that  God  is  not  God  except  He  be  a  Person,  and  this 
Person    contains    three    persons:      yet    God    must    be    One 

IS  although  He  is  three.  Is  this  pure,  specific  Christianity? 
and  is  God  in  Christian  Science  no  God  because  He  is  not 
after  this  model  of  personality? 

i8  The  logic  of  divine  Science  being  faultless,  its  consequent 
Christianity  is  consistent  with  Christ's  hillside  sermon, 
which  is  set  aside  to  some  degree,  regarded  as  impracticable 

21   for  human  use,  its  theory  even  seldom  named. 

God  is  Person  in  the  infinite  scientific  sense  of  Him,  but 
He  can  neither  be  one  nor  infinite  in  the  corporeal  or  an- 

24   thropomorphic  sense. 

Our  departure  from  theological  personality  is,  that  God's 
personality  must  be  as  infinite  as  Mind  is.     We  believe  in 

2  7  God  as  the  infinite  Person;  but  lose  all  conceivable  idea 
of  Him  as  a  finite  Person  with  an  infinite  Mind.  That 
God  is  either  inconceivable,  or  is  manlike,  is  not  my  sense 

so  of  Him.     In  divine  Science  He  is  "  altogether  lovely,"  and 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  7 

consistently  conceivable  as  the  personality  of  infinite  Love, 
infinite  Spirit,  than  whom  there  is  none  other. 

Scholastic  theology  makes  God  manlike;  Christian 
Science  makes  man  Godlike.  The  trinity  of  the  Godhead 
in  Christian  Science  being  Life,  Truth,  Love,  constitutes 
the  individuality  of  the  infinite  Person  or  divine  intelligence 
called  God. 

Again,  God  being  infinite  JMind,  He  is  the  all-wise,  all- 
knowing,  all-loving  Father-Mother,  for  God  made  man  in 
His  own  image  and  likeness,  and  made  them  male  and 
female  as  the  Scriptures  declare;  then  does  not  our 
heavenly  Parent  —  the  divine  Mind  —  include  within  this 
:Mind  the  thoughts  that  express  the  different  mentalities 
of  man  and  woman,  whereby  we  may  consistently  say, 
"Our  Father-Mother  God"?  And  does  not  this  heavenly 
Parent  know  and  supply  the  differing  needs  of  the  indi- 
vidual mind  even  as  the  Scriptures  declare  He  will? 

Because  Christian  Scientists  call  their  God  "  divine 
Principle,"  as  well  as  infinite  Person,  they  have  not  taken 
away  their  Lord,  and  know  not  where  they  have  laid  Him. 
They  do  not  believe  there  must  be  something  tangible  to 
the  personal  material  senses  in  order  that  belief  may  attend 
their  petitions  to  divine  Love.  The  God  whom  all  Chris- 
tians now  claim  to  believe  in  and  worship  cannot  be  con- 
ceived of  on  that  basis;  He  cannot  be  apprehended  through 
the  material  senses,  nor  can  they  gain  any  evidence  of  His 
presence  thereby.  Jesus  said,  "  Thomas,  because  thou 
hast  seen  me,  thou  hast  believed:  blessed  are  they  that 
have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed." 


8    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

1  Christ  is  One  and  Divine 

Again  I  reiterate  this  cardinal  point:    There  is  but  one 

3  Christ,  and  Christ  is  divine  —  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  spiritual 
idea  of  the  divine  Principle  Love.  Is  this  scientific  state- 
ment more  transcendental  than  the  belief  of  our  brethren, 

6  who  regard  Jesus  as  God  and  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the  third 
person  in  the  Godhead?  When  Jesus  said,  "  I  and  my 
Father  are  one,"  and  "  my  Father  is  greater  than  I,"  this 

9  was  said  in  the  sense  that  one  ray  of  light  is  light,  and  it 
is  one  with  light,  but  it  is  not  the  full-orbed  sun.  There- 
fore we  have  the  authority  of  Jesus  for  saying  Christ  is  not 

12   God,  but  an  impartation  of  Him. 

Again:     Is   man,   according    to    Christian    Science,   more 
transcendental  than  God  made  him?     Can  he  be  too  spir- 

15  itual,  since  Jesus  said,  "  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect"?  Is  God 
Spirit?       He  is.       Then  is  man  His  image  and  likeness, 

i8  according  to  Holy  Writ?  He  is.  Then  can  man  be  mate- 
rial, or  less  than  spiritual?  As  God  made  man,  is  he  not 
wholly  spiritual?     The  reflex  image  of  Spirit  is  not  unlike 

21  Spirit.  The  logic  of  divine  metaphysics  makes  man  none 
too  transcendental,  if  we  follow  the  teachings  of  the 
Bible. 

24  The  Christ  was  Jesus'  spiritual  selfhood;  therefore 
Christ  existed  prior  to  Jesus,  who  said,  "  Before  Abraham 
was,  I  am."     Jesus,  the  only  immaculate,  was  born  of  a 

2  7  virgin  mother,  and  Christian  Science  explains  that  mystic 

saying  of  the  Master  as  to  his  dual  personality,  or  the  spir- 


MESSAGE    FOR    1901  9 

itual   and   material    Christ   Jesus,    called   in    Scripture   the     i 
Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of  man  —  explains  it  as  referring 
to   his   eternal   spiritual   selfhood   and   his   temporal   man-     3 
hood.      Christian   Science   shows   clearly   that   God   is   the 
only  generating  or  regenerating  power. 

The   ancient   worthies   caught   glorious   glimpses   of    the     6 
jNIessiah  or  Christ,  and  their  truer  sense  of  Christ  baptized 
them   in   Spirit  —  submerged   them   in   a   sense   so   pure   it 
made   seers   of   men,  and    Christian   healers.     This  is  the    9 
"  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,"   spoken  of  by  St.   Paul. 
It  is  also  the  mysticism  complained  of  by  the  rabbis,  who 
crucified  Jesus  and  called  him  a  "deceiver."     Yea,  it  is   12 
the  healing  power  of  Truth  that  is  persecuted  to-day,  the 
spirit  of  divine  Love,  and  Christ  Jesus  possessed  it,  prac- 
tised  it,   and   taught   his   followers   to   do   likewise.     This   15 
spirit  of  God  is  made  manifest  in  the  flesh,  healing  and  sav- 
ing men,  —  it  is  the  Christ,  Comforter,  "  which  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world;"  and  yet  Christ  is  rejected  of  man!    r8 

The  evil  in  human  nature  foams  at  the  touch  of  good; 
it  crieth  out,  "  Let  us  alone;    what  have  we  to  do  with 
thee,  .  .  .  ?  art  thou  come  to  destroy  us?    I  know  thee  who   21 
thou  art;    the  Holy  One  of  God."     The  Holy  Spirit  takes 
of  the  things  of  God  and  showeth  them  unto  the  creature; 
and  these  things  being  spiritual,   they  disturb  the  carnal    24 
and  destroy  it;    they  are  revolutionary,  reformator>%  and  — 
now,  as  aforetime  —  they  cast  out  evils  and  heal  the  sick. 
He   of   God's  household   who  loveth   and   liveth  most   the   27 
things  of  Spirit,  receiveth  them  most;    he  speaketh  wisely, 
for   the   spirit   of   his    Father   speaketh    through   him;     he 
worketh  well  and  healeth  quickly,  for  the  spirit  giveth  him  30 


lO   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

1  liberty:  "  Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall 
make  you  free." 

3  Jesus  said,  "  For  all  these  things  they  will  deliver  you 
up  to  the  councils  "  and  "  If  they  have  called  the  master 
of  the  house   Beelzebub,   how  much  more  shall  they  call 

6  them  of  his  household?  Fear  them  not  therefore:  for 
there  is  nothing  covered,  that  shall  not  be  revealed." 

Christ  being  the  Son  of  God,  a  spiritual,  divine  emana- 

g  tion,  Christ  must  be  spiritual,  not  material.  Jesus  was 
the  son  of  Mary,  therefore  the  son  of  man  only  in  the 
sense   that   man   is   the    generic    term   for   both   male   and 

12  female.  The  Christ  was  not  human.  Jesus  was  human, 
but  the  Christ  Jesus  represented  both  the  divine  and  the 
human,  God  and  man.     The  Science  of  divine  metaphysics 

IS  removes  the  mysticism  that  used  to  enthrall  my  sense  of 
the  Godhead,  and  of  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  God  and  the  son 
of  man.     Christian  Science  explains  the  nature  of  God  as 

i8   both  Father  and  Mother. 

Theoretically    and    practically    man's    salvation    comes 
through  "  the  riches  of  His  grace  "  in  Christ  Jesus.    Divine 

21  Love  spans  the  dark  passage  of  sin,  disease,  and  death  with 
Christ's  righteousness,  —  the  atonement  of  Christ,  whereby 
good  destroys  evil,  —  and  the  victory  over  self,  sin,  disease, 

24  and  death,  is  won  after  the  pattern  of  the  mount.  This  is 
working  out  our  own  salvation,  for  God  worketh  with  us, 
until  there  shall  be  nothing  left  to  perish  or  to  be  pun- 

27  ished,  and  we  emerge  gently  into  Life  everlasting.  This 
is  what  the  Scriptures  demand  —  faith  according  to 
works. 

30      After  Jesus  had  fulfilled  his  mission  in  the  flesh  as  the 


MESSAGE  FOR   1901  II 

Son  of  man,  he  rose  to  the  fulness  of  his  stature  in  Christ, 
the  eternal  Son  of  God,  that  never  suffered  and  never 
died.  And  because  of  Jesus'  great  work  on  earth,  his  dem- 
onstration over  sin,  disease,  and  death,  the  divine  nature 
of  Christ  Jesus  has  risen  to  human  apprehension,  and  we 
see  the  Son  of  man  in  divine  Science;  and  he  is  no  longer 
a  material  man,  and  mind  is  no  longer  in  matter.  Through 
this  redemptive  Christ,  Truth,  we  are  healed  and  saved, 
and  that  not  of  our  selves,  it  is  the  gift  of  God;  we  are 
saved  from  the  sins  and  sufferings  of  the  flesh,  and  are 
the  redeemed  of  the  Lord. 


The  Christian  Scientists'  Pastor  12 

True,  I  have  made  the  Bible,  and  "  Science  and  Health 
with  Key  to  the  Scriptures,"  the  pastor  for  all  the  churches 
of  the  Christian  Science  denomination,  but  that  does  not    15 
make  it  impossible  for  this  pastor  of  ours  to  preach!     To 
my  sense   the   Sermon  on   the   Mount,   read  each   Sunday 
without  comment  and  obeyed  throughout  the  week,  would    18 
be  enough  for  Christian  practice.     The  Word  of  God  is  a 
powerful  preacher,  and  it  is  not  too  spiritual  to  be  prac- 
tical, nor  too  transcendental  to  be  heard  and  understood.   21 
Whosoever    saith    there    is    no    sermon    without    personal 
preaching,  forgets  what  Christian  Scientists  do  not,  namely, 
that  God  is  a  Person,  and  that  he  should  be  willing  to  hear   24 
a  sermon  from  his  personal  God! 

But,  my  brethren,   the  Scripture  saith,   "  Answer  not  a 
fool  according  to  his  folly,  lest  thou  also  be  like  unto  him."   27 
St.    Paul   complains   of   him   whose   god   is   his   belly:     to 


12   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  such  a  one  our  mode  of  worship  may  be  intangible,  for  it 
is  not  felt  with  the  fingers;    but  the  spiritual  sense  drinks 

3  it  in,  and  it  corrects  the  material  sense  and  heals  the  sin- 
ning and  the  sick.  If  St.  John  should  tell  that  man  that 
Jesus  came  neither  eating  nor  drinking,  and  that  he  bap- 
6  tized  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire,  he  would  natu- 
rally reply,  "  That  is  too  transcendental  for  me  to  believe, 
or  for  my  worship.  That  is  Johnism,  and  only  Johnites 
9  would  be  seen  in  such  company."  But  this  is  human:  even 
the  word  Christian  was  anciently  an  opprobrium;  — 
hence  the  Scripture,  "  When  the  Son  of  man  cometh,  shall 

12  he  find  faith  on  the  earth?" 

Though  a  man  were  begirt  with  the  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim  of  priestly  office,  yet  should  not  have  charity,  or  should 

IS  deny  the  validity  and  permanence  of  Christ's  command  to 
heal  in  all  ages,  he  would  dishonor  that  office  and  misin- 
terpret evangelical  religion.     Divine  Science  is  not  an  in- 

i8  terpolation  of  the  Scriptures,  it  is  redolent  with  health, 
holiness,  and  love.  It  only  needs  the  prism  of  divine 
Science,  which  scholastic  theology  has  obscured,  to  divide 

21  the  rays  of  Truth,  and  bring  out  the  entire  hues  of  God. 
The  lens  of  Science  magnifies  the  divine  power  to  human 
sight;    and  we  then  see  the  allness  of  Spirit,  therefore  the 

24  nothingness  of  matter. 

No  Reality  in  Evil  or  Sin 

Incorporeal  evil  embodies  itself  in  the   so-called  corpo- 

27  real,   and   thus  is  manifest   in   the   flesh.     Evil  is  neither 

quality  nor  quantity:    it  is  not  intelligence,  a  person  or  a 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  13 

principle,  a  man  or  a  woman,  a  place  or  a  thing,  and  God     i 
never  made  it.     The  outcome  of  evil,  called  sin,  is  another 
nonentity  that  belittles  itself  until  it  annihilates  its  own     3 
embodiment:     this   is   the   only   annihilation.      The   visible 
sin  should  be  invisible:     it  ought  not  to  be  seen,  felt,  or 
acted:    and  because  it  ought  not,  we  must  know  it  is  not,     6 
and   that  sin  is  a  lie   from   the   beginning,  —  an   illusion, 
nothing,  and  only  an  assumption  that  nothing  is  something. 
It  is  not  well  to  maintain  the  position  that  sin  is  sin  and     9 
can  take  possession  of  us  and  destroy  us,  but  well  that  we 
take  possession  of  sin  with  such  a  sense  of  its  nullity  as 
destroys  it.     Sin  can  have  neither  entity,  verity,  nor  power   12 
thus  regarded,  and  we  verify  Jesus'  words,  that  evil,  alias 
devil,  sin,  is  a  lie  —  therefore  is  nothing  and  the  father  of 
nothingness.     Christian  Science  lays  the  axe  at  the  root  of   15 
sin,  and  destroys  it  on  the  very  basis  of  nothingness.    When 
man  makes  something  of  sin  it  is  either  because  he  fears  it 
or  loves  it.     Now,  destroy  the  conception  of  sin  as  some-    18 
thing,  a  reality,  and  you  destroy  the  fear  and  the  love  of 
it;    and  sin  disappears.     A  man's  fear,  unconquered,  con- 
quers him,  in  whatever  direction.  21 

In  Christian  Science  it  is  plain  that  God  removes  the 
punishment  for  sin  only  as  the  sin  is  removed  —  never 
punishes  it  only  as  it  is  destroyed,  and  never  afterwards;  24 
hence  the  hope  of  universal  salvation.  It  is  a  sense  of  sin, 
and  not  a  sinful  soul,  that  is  lost.  Soul  is  immortal,  but 
sin  is  mortal.  To  lose  the  sense  of  sin  we  must  first  detect  27 
the  claim  of  sin;  hold  it  invalid,  give  it  the  lie,  and  then 
we  get  the  victory,  sin  disappears,  and  its  unreality  is 
proven.     So  long  as  we  indulge  the  presence  or  believe  in  30 


14       MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  the  power  of  sin,  it  sticks  to  us  and  has  power  over  us. 
Again:    To  assume  there  is  no  reality  in  sin,  and  yet  com- 

3  mit  sin,  is  sin  itself,  that  clings  fast  to  iniquity.  The 
Publican's  wail  won  his  humble  desire,  while  the  Phari- 
see's self-righteousness  crucified  Jesus. 
6  Do  Christian  Scientists  believe  that  evil  exists?  We 
answer.  Yes  and  No!  Yes,  inasmuch  as  we  do  know 
that  evil,  as  a  false  claim,  false  entity,  and  utter  falsity, 
9  does  exist  in  thought;  and  No,  as  something  that  enjoys, 
suffers,  or  is  real.  Our  only  departure  from  ecclesias- 
ticism  on  this  subject  is,  that  our  faith  takes  hold  of  the 

12  fact  that  evil  cannot  be  made  so  real  as  to  frighten  us 
and  so  master  us,  or  to  make  us  love  it  and  so  hinder  our 
way   to   holiness.     We   regard   evil   as   a   lie,   an   illusion, 

15  therefore  as  unreal  as  a  mirage  that  misleads  the  traveller 
on  his  way  home. 

It  is  self-evident  that  error  is  not  Truth;    then  it  follows 

18  that  it  is  untrue;  and  if  untrue,  unreal;  and  if  unreal,  to 
conceive  of  error  as  either  right  or  real  is  sin  in  itself.  To 
be  delivered  from  believing  in  what  is  unreal,  from  fear- 

21  ing  it,  following  it,  or  loving  it,  one  must  watch  and  pray 
that  he  enter  not  into  temptation  —  even  as  one  guards 
his    door    against    the    approach    of    thieves.      Wrong    is 

24  thought  before  it  is  acted;  you  must  control  it  in  the  first 
instance,  or  it  will  control  you  in  the  second.  To  over- 
come all  wrong,  it  must  become  unreal  to  us:    and  it  is 

27  good  to  know  that  wrong  has  no  divine  authority;  there- 
fore man  is  its  master.  I  rejoice  in  the  scientific  appre- 
hension of  this  grand  verity. 

30       The    evil-doer    receives    no    encouragement    from    my 


MESSAGE  FOR   1901  15 

declaration   that   evil   is   unreal,   when    I   declare   that   he     i 
must  awake  from  his  belief  in  this  awful  unreality,  repent 
and  forsake  it,     in  order  to  understand  and  demonstrate     3 
its   unreality.      Error   uncondemned   is   not   nullified.     We 
must  condemn  the  claim  of  error  in  every  phase  in  order 
to  prove  it  false,  therefore  unreal.  6 

The  Christian  Scientist  has  enlisted  to  lessen  sin,  dis- 
ease, and  death,  and  he  overcomes  them  through  Christ, 
Truth,  teaching  him  that  they  cannot  overcome  us.  The  9 
resistance  to  Christian  Science  weakens  in  proportion  as 
one  understands  it  and  demonstrates  the  Science  of 
Christianity.  12 

A  sinner  ought  not  to  be  at  ease,  or  he  would  never  quit 
sinning.     The  most  deplorable  sight  is  to  contemplate  the 
infinite  blessings  that  divine  Love  bestows  on  mortals,  and    15 
their    ingratitude    and    hate,    filling  up    the    measure    of 
wickedness  against  all  light.     I  can  conceive  of  little  short 
of    the    old    orthodox    hell    to    waken    such    a    one    from    18 
his   deluded   sense;      for   all   sin   is   a   deluded   sense,   and 
dis-ease  in  sin  is  better  than  ease.       Some  mortals  may 
even  need  to  hear  the  following  thunderbolt  of  Jonathan  21 
Edwards:  — 

"  It  is  nothing  but  God's  mere  pleasure  that  keeps  you 
from  being  this  moment  swallowed  up  in  everlasting  de-  24 
struction.  He  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to  bear  to  have  you  in 
His  sight.  There  is  no  other  reason  to  be  given  why  you 
have  not  gone  to  hell  since  you  have  sat  here  in  the  house  27 
of  God,  provoking  His  pure  eyes  by  your  sinful,  wicked 
manner  of  attending  His  solemn  worship.  Yea,  there  is 
nothing  else  that  is  to  be  given  as  a  reason  why  you  do  30 


Y 


1 6   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  not  at  this  moment  drop  down  into  hell,  but  that  God's 
hand  has  held  you  up." 

3  Future  Punishment  of  Sin 

My  views  of  a  future  and  eternal  punishment  take  in  a 
poignant  present  sense  of  sin  and  its  suffering,  punishing 
6  itself  here  and  hereafter  till  the  sin  is  destroyed.  St. 
John's  types  of  sin  scarcely  equal  the  modern  nonde- 
scripts, whereby  the  demon  of  this  world,  its  lusts,  falsi- 
9  ties,  envy,  and  hate,  supply  sacrilegious  gossip  with  the 
verbiage  of  hades.  But  hatred  gone  mad  becomes  im- 
becile —  outdoes  itself  and  commits  suicide.     Then  let  the 

12  dead  bury  its  dead,  and  surviving  defamers  share  our  pity. 

In     the     Greek    devil     is     named     serpent  —  liar  —  the 

god  of  this  world;    and  St.  Paul  defines  this  world's  god  as 

IS  dishonesty,  craftiness,  handling  the  word  of  God  deceit- 
fully. The  original  text  defines  devil  as  accuser^ 
calumniator;    therefore,     according     to     Holy     Writ,    these 

i8  qualities  are  objectionable,  and  ought  not  to  proceed  from 
the  individual,  the  pulpit,  or  the  press.  The  Scriptures 
once  refer  to  an  evil  spirit  as  dumb,  but  in  its  origin  evil 

21  was  loquacious,  and  was  supposed  to  outtalk  Truth  and 
to  carry  a  most  vital  point.  Alas!  if  now  it  is  permitted 
license,  under  sanction  of  the  gown,  to  handle  with  gar- 

24  rulity  age  and  Christianity!  Shall  it  be  said  of  this  cen- 
tury that  its  greatest  discoverer  is  a  woman  to  whom  men 
go  to  mock,  and  go  away  to  pray?    Shall  the  hope  for  our 

27  race  commence  with  one  truth  told  and  one  hundred  false- 
hoods told  about  it? 


MESSAGE  FOR  1901  17 

The  present  self-inflicted  sufferings  of  mortals  from  sin, 
disease,  and  death  should  suffice  so  to  awaken  the  suf- 
ferer from  the  mortal  sense  of  sin  and  mind  in  matter  as 
to  cause  him  to  return  to  the  Father's  house  penitent  and 
saved;  yea,  quickly  to  return  to  divine  Love,  the  author 
and  finisher  of  our  faith,  who  so  loves  even  the  repentant 
prodigal  —  departed  from  his  better  self  and  struggling 
to  return  —  as  to  meet  the  sad  sinner  on  his  way  and  to 
welcome  him  home. 


Medicine 

Had   not  my  first  demonstrations  of   Christian   Science 
or  metaphysical  healing  exceeded   that  of  other  methods,  la 
they  would  not  have  arrested  public  attention  and  started 
the  great  Cause  that  to-day  commands  the  respect  of  our 
best  thinkers.     It  was  that  I  healed  the  deaf,  the  blind,  the   15 
dumb,  the  lame,  the  last  stages  of  consumption,  pneumonia, 
etc.,  and  restored  the  patients  in  from  one  to  three  inter- 
views, that  started  the  inquiry,  What  is  it?    And  when  the   18 
public  sentiment  would  allow  it,  and   I  had  overcome  a 
difficult  stage  of  the  work,  I  would  put  patients  into  the 
hands   of   my   students   and   retire   from    the   comparative  21 
ease  of  healing  to  the  next  more  difficult  stage  of  action 
for  our  Cause, 

From  my  medical  practice  I  had  learned  that  the  d>Tiam-   24 
ics  of  medicine  is  Mind.     In  the  highest  attenuations  of 
homoeopathy  the  drug  is  utterly  expelled,  hence  it  must 
be  mind  that  controls  the  effect;    and  this  attenuation  in  27 
some  cases  healed  where  the  allopathic  doses  would  not. 


1 8   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  When  the  "  mother  tincture  "  of  one  grain  of  the  drug  was 
attenuated  one  thousand  degrees  less  than  in  the  beginning, 
3   that  was  my  favorite  dose. 

The    weak    criticisms    and    woeful    warnings    concerning 
Christian    Science    healing    are    less    now    than    were    the 
6  sneers  forty  years   ago   at  the   medicine  of    homoeopathy; 
and  the  medicine  of  jMind  is  more  honored  and  respected 
to-day  than  the  old-time  medicine  of  matter.     Those  who 
Q  laugh  at  or  pray  against  transcendentalism  and  the  Chris- 
tian Scientist's  religion  or  his  medicine,  should  know  the 
danger  of   questioning   Christ  Jesus'   healing,   who   admin- 
12  istered  no  remedy  apart  from  Mind,  and  taught  his  dis- 
ciples none  other.     Christian  Science  seems  transcendental 
because   the   substance   of   Truth   transcends   the   evidence 
IS  of  the  five  personal  senses,  and  is  discerned  only  through 
divine  Science. 

If    God   created   drugs   for   medical   use,   Jesus   and   his 

i8  disciples  would  have  used  them  and  named  them  for  that 

purpose,  for  he  came  to  do  "  the  will  of  the  Father."    The 

doctor  who  teaches  that  a  human  hypothesis  is  above  a 

21  demonstration  of  healing,  yea,  above  the  grandeur  of  our 

great   master   Metaphysician's   precept   and   example,    and 

that   of   his  followers  in  the  early  centuries,    should   read 

24   this  Scripture:    "  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart.  There  is 

no  God." 

The  divine  Life,  Truth,  Love  —  whom  men  call  God  — 

2  7  is  the  Christian  Scientists'  healer;    and  if  God  destroys  the 

popular    triad  —  sin,    sickness,    and    death  —  remember    it 

is  He  who  does  it  and  so  proves  their  nullity. 

30       Christians  and  clergymen  pray  for  sinners;    they  believe 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  19 

that  God  answers  their  prayers,  and  that  prayer  is  a  divinely     i 
appointed   means   of   grace    and   salvation.      They   believe 
that  divine  power,  besought,  is  given  to  them  in  times  of     3 
trouble,  and  that  He  worketh  with  them  to  save  sinners. 
I  love   this  doctrine,   for   I   know   that  prayer  brings   the 
seeker  into   closer  proximity   with   divine   Love,   and   thus     6 
he  finds  what  he  seeks,  the  power  of  God  to  heal  and  to 
save,     Jesus  said,  "  Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive;"  and  if  not 
immediately,  continue   to  ask,   and  because  of  your  often     9 
coming  it  shall  be  given  unto  you;    and  he  illustrated  his 
saying  by  a  parable. 

The   notion   that   mixing   material   and   spiritual   means,   12 
either  in   medicine   or   in   religion,   is   wise   or   efficient,   is 
proven  false.     That  animal  natures  give  force  to  character 
is     egregious     nonsense  —  a     flat     departure     from     Jesus'    15 
practice  and  proof.     Let  us  remember  that  the  great  IMeta- 
physician    healed    the    sick,    raised    the    dead,    and    com- 
manded  even   the   winds   and   waves,    which   obeyed   him   18 
through  spiritual  ascendency  alone. 

ISIextal  ISL\lpractice 

From  ordinary  mental  practice  to  Christian  Science  is  a  21 
long  ascent,  but  to  go  from  the  use  of  inanimate  drugs  to 
any  susceptible  misuse  of  the  human  mind,  such  as  mes- 
merism, hypnotism,  and  the  like,  is  to  subject  mankind  24 
unwarned  and  undefended  to  the  unbridled  individual 
human  will.  The  currents  of  God  flow  through  no  such 
channels.  27 

The  whole  world  needs  to  know  that  the  milder  forms 


20       MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  of  animal  magnetism   and   hypnotism  are   yielding   to   its 

aggressive    features.      We    have    no    moral    right    and    no 

3   authority  in  Christian  Science  for  influencing  the  thoughts 

of  others,  except  it  be  to  serve  God  and  benefit  mankind. 

Man  is  properly  self-governed,   and  he  should  be  guided 

6  by  no  other  mind  than  Truth,  the  divine  Mind.     Christian 

Science  gives  neither  moral  right  nor  might  to  harm  either 

man  or  beast.     The  Christian  Scientist  is  alone  with  his 

9  own  being  and   with   the   reality  of  things.     The  mental 

malpractitioner  is  not,  cannot  be,  a  Christian  Scientist;   he 

is  disloyal  to  God  and  man;    he  has  every  opportunity  to 

12  mislead  the  human  mind,  and  he  uses  it.  People  may 
listen  complacently  to  the  suggestion  of  the  inaudible 
falsehood,  not  knowing  what  is  hurting  them  or  that  they 

15  are  hurt.  This  mental  bane  could  not  bewilder,  darken,  or 
misguide  consciousness,  physically,  morally,  or  spiritually, 
if  the  individual  knew  what  was  at  work  and  his  power 

i8   over  it. 

This  unseen  evil  is  the  sin  of  sins;    it  is  never  forgiven. 
Even  the  agony  and  death  that  it  must  sooner  or  later 

21  cause  the  perpetrator,  cannot  blot  out  its  effects  on  him- 
self till  he  suffers  up  to  its  extinction  and  stops  practising 
it.     The  crimes  committed  under  this  new-old   regime  of 

24  necromancy  or  diabolism  are  not  easily  reckoned.  At 
present  its  mystery  protects  it,  but  its  hidden  modus  and 
flagrance  will  finally  be  known,  and  the  laws  of  our  land 

2  7  will  handle  its  thefts,  adulteries,  and  murders,  and  will 
pass  sentence  on  the  darkest  and  deepest  of  human 
crimes. 

30       Christian    Scientists   are    not   hypnotists,    they   are   not 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  21 

mortal    mind-curists,    nor    faith-curists;     they    have    faith,     i 
but  they  have  Science,  understanding,  and  works  as  \\cll. 
They  are  not  the  addeiida,  the  et  ceteras,  or  new  editions     3 
of  old  errors;    but  they  are  what  they  are,  namely,  stu- 
dents of  a  demonstrable  Science  leading  the  ages. 


Questionable  Metaphysics  6 

In    an    article    published    in    the    Neu    York    Journal, 

Rev. writes:   "To  the  famous  Bishop  Berkeley  of  the 

Church  of  England  may  be  traced  many  of  the  ideas  about     9 
the    spiritual    world    which    are    now    taught   in    Christian 
Science." 

This   clergyman   gives   it   as  his   opinion   that   Christian   12 
Science  will  be  improved  in  its    teaching  and  authorship 
after  jMrs.  Eddy  has  gone.     I  am  sorry  for  my  critic,  who 
reckons  hopefully  on  the  death  of  an  individual  who  loves   15 
God   and   man;     such   foreseeing   is   not   foreknowing,   and 
exhibits  a  startling  ignorance  of   Christian  Science,  and  a 
manifest  unfitness  to  criticise  it  or  to  compare  its  literature.    18 
He    begins    his    calculation    erroneously;     for    Life    is    the 
Principle  of   Christian  Science  and  of  its  results.     Death 
is  neither  the  predicate  nor  postulate  of  Truth,  and  Christ   21 
came  not  to  bring  death  but  life  into  the  world.    Does  this 
critic  know  of  a  better  way  than  Christ's  whereby  to  benefit 
the  race?      JSIy  faith   assures   me    that    God   knows  more    24 
than  any  man  on  this  subject,  for  did  He  not  know  all 
things    and    results    I    should    not    have    known    Christian 
Science,  or  felt  the  incipient  touch  of  divine  Love  which  27 
inspired  it. 


22   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

1       That   God  is  good,   that  Truth  is  true,  and  Science  is 
Science,  who  can  doubt;    and  whosoever  demonstrates  the 

3  truth  of  these  propositions  is  to  some  extent  a  Christian 
Scientist.  Is  Science  material?  No!  It  is  the  Mind  of 
God  —  and  God  is  Spirit.  Is  Truth  material?  No! 
6  Therefore  I  do  not  try  to  mix  matter  and  Spirit,  since 
Science  does  not  and  they  will  not  mix.  I  am  a  spiritual 
homoeopathist  in  that  I  do  not  believe  in  such  a  compound. 
9  Truth  and  Truth  is  not  a  compound;  Spirit  and  Spirit  is 
not:  but  Truth  and  error.  Spirit  and  matter,  are  com- 
pounds and  opposites;    so  if  one  is  true,  the  other  is  false. 

12  If  Truth  is  true,  its  opposite,  error,  is  not;  and  if  Spirit  is 
true  and  infinite,  it  hath  no  opposite;  therefore  matter 
cannot  be  a  reality. 

15  I  begin  at  the  feet  of  Christ  and  with  the  numeration 
table  of  Christian  Science.  But  I  do  not  say  that  one  added 
to  one  is  three,  or  one  and  a  half,  nor  say  this  to  accom- 

i8  modate  popular  opinion  as  to  the  Science  of  Christianity. 
I  adhere  to  my  text,  that  one  and  one  are  two  all  the  way 
up  to  the  infinite  calculus  of  the  infinite  God.    The  numer- 

21  ation  table  of  Christian  Science,  its  divine  Principle  and 
rules,  are  before  the  people,  and  the  different  religious 
sects  and  the  differing  schools  of  medicine  are  discussing 

24  them  as  if  they  understood  its  Principle  and  rules  before 
they  have  learned  its  numeration  table,  and  insist  that  the 
public  receive  their  sense  of  the  Science,  or  that  it  receive 

27  no  sense  whatever  of  it. 

Again:    Even  the  numeration  table  of  Christian  Science 
is  not  taught  correctly  by  those  who  have  departed  from 

3o  its  absolute  simple  statement  as  to  Spirit  and  matter,  and 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  23 

that  one  and  two  are  neither  more  nor  less  than  three;     i 
and  losing  the  numeration  table  and  the  logic  of  Christian 
Science,   they  have  little  left  that  the  sects  and  faculties     3 
can    grapple.      If    Christian    Scientists    only    would    admit 
that  God  is  Spirit  and  infinite,  yet  that  God  has  an  oppo- 
site and  that  the  infinite  is  not  all;    that  God  is  good  and     6 
infinite,  yet  that  evil  exists  and  is  real,  —  thence  it  would 
follow  that  evil  must  either  exist  in  good,  or  exist  outside 
of    the    infinite,  —  they    would    be    in    peace    with    the     9 
schools. 

This  departure,   however,   from   the  scientific   statement, 
the   divine   Principle,    rule,  or  demonstration   of   Christian   12 
Science,   results  as  would  a  change  of   the   denominations 
of   mathematics;     and   you   cannot   demonstrate    Christian 
Science  except  on  its  fixed  Principle  and  given  rule,   ac-   15 
cording  to  the  ]Master's  teaching  and  proof.    He  was  ultra; 
he  was  a  reformer;    he  laid  the  axe  at  the  root  of  all  error, 
amalgamation,    and    compounds.      He    used    no    material    18 
medicine,    nor   recommended   it,    and    taught   his   disciples 
and   followers   to   do   likewise;     therefore   he   demonstrated 
his  power  over  matter,  sin,  disease,  and  death,  as  no  other   21 
person  has  ever  demonstrated  it. 

Bishop  Berkeley  published  a  book  in  1710  entitled 
*'  Treatise  Concerning  the  Principle  of  Human  Knowl-  24 
edge."  Its  object  was  to  deny,  on  received  principles  of 
philosophy,  the  reality  of  an  external  material  world.  In 
later  publications  he  declared  physical  substance  to  be  27 
"  only  the  constant  relation  between  phenomena  connected 
by  association  and  conjoined  by  the  operations  of  the 
universal  mind,  nature  being  nothing  more  than  conscious  30 


24       MESSAGE  TO  THE  ]\IOTHER   CHURCH 

1  experience.    Matter  apart  from  conscious  mind  is  an  impos- 
sible   and    unreal   concept.        He    denies    the    existence    of 
3  matter,  and  argues  that  matter  is  not  without  the  mind, 
but    within    it,    and    that    that   which    is    generally   called 
matter  is  only  an  impression  produced  by  divine  power  on 
6  the  mind  by  means  of  invariable  rules  styled  the  laws  of 
nature."     Here  he  makes  God  the  cause  of  all  the  ills  of 
mortals  and  the  casualties  of  earth. 
9       Again,  while  descanting  on  the  virtues  of  tar-water,  he 
writes:     "  I    esteem   my   having   taken    this   medicine    the 
greatest  of  all  temporal  blessings,  and  am  convinced  that 

12  under  Providence  I  owe  my  life  to  it."  Making  matter 
more  potent  than  Mind,  when  the  storms  of  disease  beat 
against  Bishop  Berkeley's  metaphysics  and  personality  he 

IS  fell,  and  great  was  the  fall  —  from  divine  metaphysics  to 
tar- water! 

Christian  Science  is  more  than  two  hundred  years  old. 

i8  It  dates  beyond  Socrates,  Leibnitz,  Berkeley,  Darwin,  or 
Huxley.  It  is  as  old  as  God,  although  its  earthly  advent 
is  called  the  Christian  era. 

21  I  had  not  read  one  line  of  Berkeley's  writings  when  I 
published  my  work  Science  and  Health,  the  Christian 
Science  textbook. 

24  In  contradistinction  to  his  views  I  found  it  necessary  to 
follow  Jesus'  teachings,  and  none  other,  in  order  to 
demonstrate  the  divine  Science  of  Christianity  —  the  meta- 

27  physics  of  Christ  —  healing  all  manner  of  diseases.  Phil- 
osophy, materia  medica,  and  scholastic  theology  were 
inadequate   to   prove   the   doctrine   of   Jesus,   and    I   relin- 

30   quished    the    form    to    attain    the    spirit    or    mystery    of 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  25 

godliness.     Hence  the  mysticism,  so  called,  of  my  writings     i 
becomes  clear  to  the  godly. 

Building  on  the  rock  of    Christ's  teachings,  we  have  a     3 
superstructure  eternal  in  the  heavens,  omnipotent  on  earth, 
encompassing    time    and    eternity.      The    stone    which    the 
builders  reject  is  apt  to  be  the  cross,  which  they  reject  and     6 
whereby  is  won  the  crown  and  the  head  of  the  corner. 

A  knowledge  of   philosophy  and  of  medicine,   the  scho- 
lasticism   of    a    bishop,    and    the    metaphysics    (so    called)     g 
which    mix    matter    and    mind,  —  certain    individuals    call 
aids  to  divine  metaphysics,  and  regret    their   lack    in   my 
books,  which  because  of  their  more  spiritual  import  heal   12 
the  sick!     No   Christly  axioms,  practices,  or  parables  are 
alluded  to  or  required  in  such  metaphysics,  and  the  dem- 
onstration of  matter  minus,   and   God  all,   ends  in   some   15 
specious  folly. 

The   great   Metaphysician,    Christ   Jesus,    denounced   all 
such  gilded  sepulchres  of  his  time  and  of  all  time.     He    18 
never   recommended   drugs,   he   never  used   them.     WTiat, 
then,  is  our  authority  in  Christianity  for  metaphysics  based 
on  materialism?     He  demonstrated  what  he  taught.     Had   21 
he   taught  the  power  of   Spirit,   and  along  with   this  the 
power   of   matter,   he    would   have   been   as   contradictory 
as  the  blending  of  good  and  evil,  and  the  latter  superior,    24 
which  Satan  demanded  in  the  beginning,  and  which  has 
since  been  avowed  to  be  as  real,  and  matter  as  useful,  as 
the    infinite    God,  —  good,  —  which,    if    indeed    Spirit    and   27 
infinite,    excludes    evil    and    matter.      Jesus    likened    such 
self-contradictions    to    a    kingdom    divided    against    itself, 
that  cannot  stand.  30 


IT 

26   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

1  The  unity  and  consistency  of  Jesus'  theory  and  practice 
give  my  tired  sense  of  false  philosophy  and  material  the- 

3  ology  rest.     The  great  teacher,  preacher,  and  demonstrator 
of  Christianity  is  the  Master,   who  founded  his  system  of 
metaphysics  only  on    Christ,   Truth,  and  supported  it   by 
6  his  words  and  deeds. 

The   five   personal   senses   can   have   only  a   finite   sense 

of    the    infinite:     therefore    the    metaphysician    is    sensual 

9  that   combines   matter   with    Spirit.      In   one   sentence   he 

declaims  against  matter,  in  the  next  he  endows  it  with  a 

life-giving   quality   not   to   be   found   in   God!     and   turns 

12  away  from  Christ's  purely  spiritual  means  to  the  schools 
and  matter  for  help  in  times  of  need. 

I  have  passed  through  deep  waters  to  preserve  Christ's 

IS  vesture  unrent;  then,  when  land  is  reached  and  the  world 
aroused,  shall  the  word  popularity  be  pinned  to  the  seam- 
less  robe,   and   they   cast   lots   for   it?      God   forbid!     Let 

18  it  be  left  to  such  as  see  God  —  to  the  pure  in  spirit, 
and  the  meek  that  inherit  the  earth;  left  to  them  of  a 
sound  faith  and  charity,  the  greatest  of  which  is  charity 

21  — spiritual  love.  St.  Paul  said:  ''Though  I  speak 
with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have  not 
charity,    I    am    become    as    sounding   brass,    or   a    tinkling 

24  cymbal." 

Before   leaving   this   subject   of   the   old   metaphysicians, 
allow  me  to  add  I  have  read  little  of  their  writings.     I  was 

27  not  drawn  to  them  by  a  native  or  an  acquired  taste  for 
what  was  problematic  and  self-contradictory.  What  I 
have  given  to  the  world  on  the  subject  of  metaphysical 

30  healing  or  Christian  Science  is  the  result  of  my  own  ob- 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  27 

servation,  experience,  and  final  discovery,  quite  independ-     i 
ent  of  all  other  authors  except  the  Bible. 

My    critic    also    writes:     "  The    best    contributions    that     3 
have  been  made  to  the  literature  of  Christian  Science  have 
been  by  Mrs.   Eddy's  followers.     I  look  to  see  some  St. 
Paul  arise  among  the  Christian  Scientists  who  will  inter-     6 
pret    their   ideas    and    principles    more    clearly,    and    apply 
them  more  rationally  to  human  needs." 

My    works    are    the    first    ever    published    on    Christian     g 
Science,   and   nothing   has   since   appeared    that   is   correct 
on  this  subject  the  basis  whereof  cannot  be  traced  to  some 
of  those   works.     The   application  of   Christian   Science  is  12 
healing  and  reforming  mankind.     If  any  one  as  yet  has 
healed  hopeless  cases,  such  as  I  have  in  one  to  three  inter- 
views with  the  patients,   I  shall  rejoice  in  being  informed    15 
thereof.     Or  if  a  modern  St.  Paul  could  start  thirty  years 
ago   without   a    Christian   Scientist   on   earth,   and   in   this 
interval  number  one  million,  and  an  equal  number  of  sick    18 
healed,    also   sinners    reformed   and    the   habits   and    appe- 
tites of  mankind  corrected,  why  was  it  not  done?     God  is 
no  respecter  of  persons.  21 

I  have  put  less  of  my  own  personality  into  Christian 
Science  than  others  do  in  proportion,  as  I  have  taken  out 
of  its  metaphysics  all  matter  and  left  Christian  Science  24 
as  it  is,  purely  spiritual,  Christlike  —  the  Mind  of  God 
and  not  of  man  —  born  of  the  Spirit  and  not  matter. 
Professor  Agassiz  said:  "  Every  great  scientific  truth  goes  27 
through  three  stages.  First,  people  say  it  conflicts  with 
the  Bible.  Next,  they  say  it  has  been  discovered  before. 
Lastly,   they  say  they  had  always  believed  it."     Having  30 


28   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  passed  through  the  first  two  stages,  Christian  Science  must 
be    approaching    the    last    stage    of    the    great    naturalist's 
3   prophecy. 

It  is  only  by  praying,   watching,  and   working  for  the 
kingdom   of   heaven   within   us  and   upon  earth,    that   we 
6  enter  the  strait  and  narrow  way,  whereof  our  Master  said, 
"  and  few  there  be  that  find  it." 

Of   the   ancient   writers   since    the    first   century   of   the 
9  Christian  era  perhaps  none  lived  a  more  dev^out  Christian 
life   up   to   his  highest   understanding   than   St.   Augustine. 
Some    of    his    writings    have    been    translated    into    almost 
12  every  Christian  tongue,  and  are  classed  with  the  choicest 
memorials   of    devotion   both    in    Catholic   and    Protestant 
oratories. 
15       Sacred  history  shows  that  those  who  have  followed  ex- 
clusively   Christ's    teaching,    have    been    scourged    in    the 
synagogues   and   persecuted   from   city   to   city.     But   this 
i8  is  no  cause  for  not  following  it;    and  my  only  apology  for 
trying  to  follow  it  is  that  I  love  Christ  more  than  all  the 
world,    and    my    demonstration    of    Christian    Science    in 
21  healing   has   proven   to   me   beyond   a   doubt   that   Christ, 
Truth,  is  indeed  the  way  of  salvation  from  all  that  work- 
eth  or  maketh  a  lie.     As  Jesus  said:    ''It  is  enough  for 
24  the  disciple  that  he  be  as  his  master."     It  is  well  to  know 
that  even  Christ  Jesus,  who  was  not  popular  among  the 
worldlings  in  his   age,   is   not  popular   with   them   in   this 
27  age;    hence  the  inference  that  he  who  would  be  popular 
if  be  could,  is  not  a  student  of  Christ  Jesus. 

After    a    hard    and    successful    career    reformers    usually 
30   are  handsomely  provided  for.     Has  the  thought  come  to 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  29 

Christian    Scientists,    Have    we    housed,    fed,    clothed,    or     i 
visited  a  reformer  for  that  purpose?    Have  we  looked  after 
or  even  known  of  his  sore  necessities?     Gifts  he  needs  not.     3 
God  has  provided  the  means  for  him  while  he  was  provid- 
ing ways  and  means  for  others.      But   mortals  in  the  ad- 
vancing  stages   of    their    careers    need    the    \\atchful    and     6 
tender  care  of  those   who    want  to  help  them.     The  aged 
reformer  should  not  be  left  to  the  mercy  of  those  who  are 
not  glad  to  sacrifice  for  him  even   as  he  has  sacrificed  for     9 
others  all  the  best  of  his  earthly  years. 

I  say  this  not  because    reformers  are  not  loved,  but  be- 
cause well-meaning   people    sometimes   are   inapt  or  selfish   12 
in  showing  their  love.     They  are  like  children  that  go  out 
from  the  parents  who  nurtured  them,  toiled  for  them,  and 
enabled  them  to  be  grand  coworkers  for  mankind,  children    15 
who  forget  their  parents'    increasing    years  and  needs,  and 
whenever   they   return    to    the    old    home   go   not   to   help 
mother    but    to  recruit  themselves.       Or,  if    they  attempt   18 
to  help  their  parents,  and  adverse  winds  are  blowing,  this 
is  no  excuse  for  waiting  till  the  wind  shifts.     They  should 
remember    that    mother    worked    and    won    for    them    by   21 
facing   the    winds.     .AJl   honor    and    success   to    those   who 
honor  their  father  and  mother.      The  individual  who  loves 
most,  does  most,  and  sacrifices    m.ost   for  the  reformer,  is    24 
the  individual  who  soonest  will  walk  in  his  footsteps. 

To  aid  my  students  in  starting  under  a  tithe  of  my  own 
difiiculties,  I  allowed  them  for  several  years  fifty    cents  on    27 
every  book  of  muie  that  they  sold.      "  With  this    percent- 
age," students  wrote  me,  "  quite  quickly  we  have    regained 
our  tuition  for  the  college  course."  30 


30   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  Christian  Scientists  are  persecuted  even  as  all  other 
religious   denominations   have    been,   since   ever   the   primi- 

3  tive  Christians,  "  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy." 
We  err  in  thinking  the  object  of  vital  Christianity  is  only 
the   bequeathing   of   itself   to    the   coming   centuries.     The 

6  successive  utterances  of  reformers  are  essential  to  its 
propagation.  The  magnitude  of  its  meaning  forbids  head- 
long haste,   and  the    consciousness   which  is  most  imbued 

9  struggles  to  articulate  itself. 

Christian   Scientists   are   practically   non-resistants;    they 
are   too  occupied  with   doing   good,   observing    the    Golden 

12  Rule,  to  retaliate  or  to  seek  redress;  they  are  not  quacks, 
giving  birth  to  nothing  and  death  to  all,  —  but  they  are 
leaders  of  a  reform  in   religion  and  in  medicine,  and  they 

IS   have  no  craft  that  is  in  danger. 

Even     religion     and      therapeutics     need     regenerating. 
Philanthropists,  and  the   higher  class  of  critics  in  theology 

i8  and  materia  medica,  recognize  that  Christian  Science 
kindles  the  inner  genial  life  of  a  man,  destroying  all  lower 
considerations.     No  man  or  woman  is  roused  to  the  estab- 

21  lishment  of  a  new-old  religion  by  the  hope  of  ease,  pleasure, 
or  recompense,  or  by  the  stress  of  the  appetites  and  pas- 
sions.    And  no  emperor  is  obeyed  like  the  man  "  clouting 

24  his  own  cloak  "  —  working  alone  with  God,  yea,  like  the 
clear,  far-seeing  vision,  the  calm  courage,  and  the  great 
heart  of  the  unselfed  Christian  hero. 

2  7  I  counsel  Christian  Scientists  under  all  circumstances 
to  obey  the  Golden  Rule,  and  to  adopt  Pope's  axiom: 
"  An  honest,   sensible,   and   well-bred  man  will  not  insult 

30  me,   and   no   other  can."     The   sensualist  and   world-wor- 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  31 

shipper  are  always  stung  by  a  clear  elucidation  of  truth,     x 
of  right,  and  of  wrong. 

The    only    opposing    element    that    sects    or    professions     3 
can   encounter  in   Christian    Science   is  Truth  opposed   to 
all    error,    specific    or   universal.      This    opposition   springs 
from  the  very  nature  of  Truth,  being  neither  personal  nor     6 
human,    but    divine.      Every    true    Christian    in    the    near 
future  will  learn  and  love  the   truths  of  Christian  Science 
that  now  seem  troublesome.     Jesus  said,  "  I  came  not  to     9 
send  peace  but  a  sword." 

Has  God  entrusted  me  with  a  message  to  mankind?  — 
then  I  cannot  choose  but  obey.  After  a  long  acquaintance  12 
with  the  communicants  of  my  large  church,  they  regard 
me  with  no  vague,  fruitless,  inquiring  wonder.  I  can  use 
the  power  that  God  gives  me  in  no  way  except  in  the  15 
interest  of  the  individual  and  the  community.  To  this 
verity  every  member  of  my  church  would  bear  loving 
testimony.  18 

IMy  Childhood's  Church  Home 

Among  the  list  of  blessings  infinite   I  count  these  dear: 
Devout  orthodox  parents;    my  early  culture  in  the  Congre-   21 
gational    Church;     the    daily    Bible    reading    and    family 
prayer;    my  cradle  hymn  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  repeated 
at  night;    my  early  association   with   distinguished   Chris-   24 
tian  clerg\Tnen,  who  held  fast  to  whatever  is  good,  used 
faithfully    God's    Word,    and    yielded    up    graciously    what 
He  took  away.     It  was  my  fair  fortune  to  be  often  taught   27 
by  some  grand  old  divines,  among  whom  were  the  Rev. 


32   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  Abraham  Burnham  of  Pembroke,  N.  H.,  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Bouton,  D.D.,  of  Concord,  N.  H.,  Congregationalists; 
3  Rev.  Mr.  Boswell,  of  Bow,  N.  H.,  Baptist;  Rev.  Enoch 
Courser,  and  Rev.  Corban  Curtis,  Congregationalist;  and 
Father  Hines,  Methodist  Elder.  I  became  early  a  child 
6  of  the  Church,  an  eager  lover  and  student  of  vital  Chris- 
tianity. Why  I  loved  Christians  of  the  old  sort  was  I 
could  not  help  loving  them.  Full  of  charity  and  good 
9  works,  busy  about  their  Master's  business,  they  had  no 
time  or  desire  to  defame  their  fellow-men.  God  seemed 
to  shield  the  whole  world  in  their  hearts,  and  they  were 

12  willing  to  renounce  all  for  Him.  When  infidels  assailed 
them,  however,  the  courage  of  their  convictions  was  seen. 
They  were  heroes  in  the  strife;    they  armed  quickly,  aimed 

15  deadly,  and  spared  no  denunciation.  Their  convictions 
were  honest,  and  they  lived  them;  and  the  sermons  their 
lives  preached  caused  me  to  love  their  doctrines. 

i8  The  lives  of  those  old-fashioned  leaders  of  religion  ex- 
plain in  a  few  words  a  good  man.  They  fill  the  ecclesi- 
astic measure,  that  to  love   God  and  keep  His  command- 

21  ments  is  the  whole  duty  of  man.  Such  churchmen  and 
the  Bible,  especially  the  First  Commandment  of  the  Dec- 
alogue, and  Ninety-first  Psalm,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 

24  and  St.  John's  Revelation,  educated  my  thought  many 
years,  yea,  all  the  way  up  to  its  preparation  for  and  recep- 
tion  of   the    Science   of    Christianity.      I   believe,   if   those 

?7  venerable  Christians  were  here  to-day,  their  sanctified 
souls  would  take  in  the  spirit  and  understanding  of  Chris- 
tian Science  through  the  flood-gates  of  Love;    with  them 

30  Love  was   the  governing  impulse   of   every  action;    their 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  33 

piety  was   the   all-important   consideration   of   their   being,     1 
the  original  beauty  of  holiness  that    to-day  seems    to    be 
fading  so  sensibly  from  our  sight.  3 

To  plant  for  eternity,  the  "accuser"  or  "calumniator" 
must  not  be  admitted  to  the  vineyard  of  our  Lord,  and 
the  hand  of  love  must  sow  the  seed.  Carlyle  writes:  6 
"  Quackery  and  dupery  do  abound  in  rehgion;  above  all, 
in  the  more  advanced  decaying  stages  of  religion,  they 
have  fearfully  abounded;  but  quackery  was  never  the  9 
originating  influence  in  such  things;  it  was  not  the  health 
and  Ufe  of  religion,  but  their  disease,  the  sure  precursor 
that  they  were  about  to  die."  12 

Christian  Scientists  first  and  last  ask  not  to  be  judged 
on  a  doctrinal  platform,  a  creed,  or  a  diploma  for  scientific 
guessing.     But  they  do  ask  to  be  allowed  the  rights  of  con-  15 
science   and   the   protection    of    the   constitutional   laws  of 
their  land;    they  ask  to  be  known  by  their  works,  to  be 
judged  (if  at  all)  by  their  works.     We  admit  that  they  do   18 
not  kill  people   with  poisonous  drugs,   with   the  lance,   or 
with  liquor,   in  order  to  heal   them.     Is  it  for  not  kiUing 
them  thus,  or  is  it  for  healing  them  through  the  might  and   21 
majesty  of  divine  power  after  the  manner  taught  by  Jesus, 
and  which  he  enjoined  his  students  to  teach  and  practise, 
that   they  are   maligned?     The   richest   and   most  positive    24 
proof  that  a  religion  in  this  century  is  just  what  it  was  in 
the   first   centuries   is    that    the    same    reviling   it   received 
then  it   receives  now,   and   from   the   same  motives  which   27 
actuate  one  sect  to  persecute  another  in  advance  of  it. 

Christian    Scientists    are    harmless    citizens    that   do    not 
kill  people  either  by  their  practice  or  by  preventing  the  30 


34       MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER   CHURCH 

I  early  employment  of  an  M.D,     Why?     Because  the  effect 

of   prayer,    whereby    Christendom    saves    sinners,    is   quite 

3   as  salutary  in  the  healing  of  all  manner  of  diseases.     The 

Bible   is   our   authority   for   asserting   this,    in   both   cases. 

The  interval  that  detains  the  patient  from  the  attendance 

6  of  an  M.D.,  occupied  in  prayer  and  in  spiritual  obedience 

to   Christ's  mode  and  means  of   healing,   cannot  be  fatal 

to  the  patient,  and  is  proven  to  be  more  pathological  than 

g  the  M.D.'s  material  prescription.     If  this  be  not  so,  where 

shall  we  look  for  the  standard  of  Christianity?     Have  we 

misread   the  evangelical  precepts  and   the    canonical  writ- 

12  ings  of  the  Fathers,  or  must  we  have  a  new  Bible  and  a 
new  system  of  Christianity,  originating  not  in  God,  but 
a   creation   of   the   schools  —  a   material    religion,   proscrip- 

15   tive,  intolerant,  wantonly  bereft  of  the  Word  of  God. 

Give   us,   dear   God,   again   on    earth   the   lost  chord  of 
Christ;    solace  us  with  the  song  of   angels   rejoicing  with 

i8   them  that  rejoice;    that  sweet   charity  which  seeketh  not 
her  own  but  another's  good,  yea,  which  knoweth  no  evil. 
Finally,  brethren,  wait  patiently   on  God;    return  bless- 

21  ing  for  cursing;  be  not  overcome  of  evil,  but  overcome 
evil  with  good;  be  steadfast,  abide  and  abound  in  faith, 
understanding,  and  good   works;    study  the  Bible  and  the 

24  textbook  of  our  denomination;  obey  strictly  the  laws  that 
be,  and  follow  your  Leader  only  so  far  as  she  follows 
Christ.     Godliness   or   Christianity   is   a   human   necessity: 

27  man  cannot  live  without  it;  he  has  no  intelHgence,  health, 
hope,  nor  happiness  without  godhness.  In  the  words  of 
the  Hebrew  writers:    "  Trust  in  the  Lord  with  all  thine 

30  heart;    and   lean   not   unto   thine   own  understanding.     la 


MESSAGE   FOR   1901  35 

all  thy  ways  acknowledge  Him,  and  He    shall    direct    thy     i 
paths;  "   "  and   He   shall   bring   forth   thy   righteousness  as 
the  light,  and  thy  judgment  as  the  noonday."  3 

The  question  oft  presents  itself.  Are  we  willing  to  sac- 
rifice self  for  the  Cause  of  Christ,  wilhng  to  bare  our  bosom 
to  the  blade  and  lay  ourselves  upon  the  altar?  Christian  6 
Science  appeals  loudly  to  those  asleep  upon  the  hill-tops 
of  Zion.  It  is  a  clarion  call  to  the  reign  of  righteousness, 
to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  within  us  and  on  earth,  and  9 
Love  is  the  way  alway. 

O  the  Love  divine  that  plucks  us 

From  the  human  agony!  12 

O  the  Master's  glory  won  thus, 

Doth  it  dawn  on  you  and  me? 

And  the  bliss  of  blotted-out  sin  IS 

And  the  working  hitherto  — 
Shall  we  share  it  —  do  we  walk  in 

Patient  faith  the  way  thereto?  x8 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE  FIRST  CHURCH  OF   CHRIST 
SCIENTIST 

OR 

THE  MOTHER   CHURCH 

BOSTON 

June   15,   1902 


^ 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE  FIRST  CHURCH  OF 
CHRIST    SCIENTIST 

OR 

THE     MOTHER    CHURCH 

BOSTON 
June    15,    1902 

BY 

MARY  BAKER   EDDY 

PASTOR    EMERITUS    AND    AUTHOR    OF    SCIENCE    AND    HEALTH 
WITH    KEY   TO   THE    SCRIPTURES 


Published  by  The 

Trustees  under  the  Will  of  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy 

BOSTON,  U.S.A. 


Authorized  Literature  of 

The  First  Church  of  Christ,  Scientist 

in  Boston,  Massachusetts 


Copyright,  igoz 
By  Mary  Baker  G.  Eddy 


AU  rights  reserved 


PRINTED   IN   THE    UNITED    STATES   OF  AMERICA 


MESSAGE 

TO 

THE  FIRST  CHURCH  OF   CHRIST 
SCIENTIST 

OR 

THE  MOTHER   CHURCH 

BOSTON 

June   15,    1902 


MESSAGE    FOR    1902 

THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  COMMANDMENT 

T>ELOVED  brethren,  another  year  of  God's  loving 
-*-^  providence  for  His  people  in  times  of  persecution  has 
marked  the  history  of  Christian  Science.  With  no  special 
effort  to  achieve  this  result,  our  church  communicants 
constantly  increase  in  number,  unity,  steadfastness.  Two 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-four  members  have 
been  added  to  our  church  during  the  year  ending  June, 
1902,  making  total  twenty-four  thousand  two  hundred  and 
seventy-eight  members;  while  our  branch  churches  are 
multipl>'ing  everywhere  and  blossoming  as  the  rose.  Evil, 
though  combined  in  formidable  conspiracy,  is  made  to 
glorify  God.  The  Scripture  declares,  "  The  wrath  of  man 
shall  praise  Thee:  the  remainder  of  wrath  shalt  Thou 
restrain." 

WTiatever  seems  calculated  to  displace  or  discredit  the 
ordinary  systems  of  religious  beliefs  and  opinions  wrest- 
ling only  with  material  observation,  has  always  met  with 
opposition  and  detraction;  this  ought  not  so  to  be,  for 
a  system  that  honors  God  and  benefits  mankind  should 
be  welcomed  and  sustained.  While  Christian  Science, 
engaging  the  attention  of  philosopher  and  sage,  is  circling 


2    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I   the    globe,     only    the     earnest,     honest    investigator    sees 
through  the  mist  of  mortal  strife  this  daystar,  and  whither 
3  it  guides. 

To  live  and  let  live,  without  clamor  for  distinction  or 
recognition;  to  wait  on  divine  Love;  to  write  truth  first 
6  on  the  tablet  of  one's  own  heart,  —  this  is  the  sanity  and 
perfection  of  living,  and  my  human  ideal.  The  Science 
of  man  and  the  universe,  in  contradistinction  to  all  error, 
9  is  on  the  way,  and  Truth  makes  haste  to  meet  and  to  wel- 
come it.  It  is  purifying  all  peoples,  religions,  ethics,  and 
learning,  and  making  the  children  our  teachers. 

12  Within  the  last  decade  religion  in  the  United  States  has 
passed  from  stern  Protestantism  to  doubtful  liberaHsm. 
God  speed  the  right!     The  wise  builders  will  build  on  the 

15  stone  at  the  head  of  the  corner;  and  so  Christian  Science, 
the  little  leaven  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  —  ethics, 
medicine,    and    religion,  —  is    rapidly   fermenting,    and   en- 

i8  lightening  the  world  with  the  glory  of  untrammelled  truth. 
The  present  modifications  in  ecclesiasticism  are  an  out- 
come of  progress;    dogmatism,  relegated  to  the  past,  gives 

21  place  to  a  more  spiritual  manifestation,  wherein  Christ 
is  Alpha  and  Omega.  It  was  an  inherent  characteristic 
of  my  nature,  a  kind  of  birthmark,   to  love   the  Church; 

i4  and  the  Church  once  loved  me.  Then  why  not  remain 
friends,  or  at  least  agree  to  disagree,  in  love,  —  part  fair 
foes.     I  never  left  the  Church,  either  in  heart  or  in  doc- 

2  7  trine;  I  but  began  where  the  Church  left  off.  When  the 
churches  and  I  round  the  gospel  of  grace,  in  the  circle  of 
love,  we  shall  meet  again,  never  to  part.     I  have  always 

30   taught  the  student  to  overcome  evil  with  good,  used  no 


MESSAGE  FOR   1902  3 

other   means    myself;     and    ten    thousand    loyal    Christian     i 
Scientists    to    one    disloyal,    bear    testimony    to    this    fact. 

The    loosening    cords    of    non-Christian    religions    in    the     3 
Orient  are  apparent.     It  is  cause  for  joy  that  among  the 
educated    classes    Buddhism    and    Shintoism    are    said    to 
be  regarded  now  more  as  a  philosophy  than  as  a  religion.        6 

I  rejoice  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  put 
an  end,  at  Charleston,  to  any  lingering  sense  of  the  North's 
half-hostiHty  to  the  South,  thus  reinstating  the  old  national     9 
family  pride  and  joy  in  the  sisterhood  of  States. 

Our  nation's  forward  step  was  the  inauguration  of 
home  rule  in  Cuba,  —  our  military  forces  withdrawing,  12 
and  leaving  her  in  the  enjoyment  of  self-government  under 
improved  laws.  It  is  well  that  our  government,  in  its  brief 
occupation  of  that  pearl  of  the  ocean,  has  so  improved  her  15 
public  school  system  that  her  dusky  children  are  learning 
to  read  and  write. 

The  w^orld  rejoices  with  our  sister  nation  over  the  close   18 
of  the  conflict  in  South  Africa;   now,  British  and  Boer  may 
prosper  in  peace,  wiser  at  the  close  than  the  beginning  of 
war.    The  dazzling  diadem  of  royalty  will  sit  easier  on  the   21 
brow  of  good  King  Edward,  —  the  mufifled  fear  of  death 
and     triumph    canker    not    his    coronation,    and    woman's 
thoughts  —  the  joy  of   the  sainted  Queen,  and   the   lay  of    24 
angels  —  hallow  the  ring  of  state. 

It  does  not  follow  that  power  must  mature  into  oppres- 
sion;   indeed,  right  is  the  only  real  potency;    and  the  only   27 
true  ambition  is  to  serve  God  and  to  help  the  race.     Envy 
is  the  atmosphere  of  hell.     According  to  Holy  Writ,  the 
first  lie   and   leap   into  perdition   began   with   "  Believe  in  30 


4    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I   me."      Competition  in  commerce,   deceit  in    councils,  dis- 
honor in  nations,  dishonesty  in  trusts,   begin  with  "  Who 
3   shall  be  greatest?  "     I  again  repeat,   Follow  your  Leader, 
only  so  far  as  she  follows  Christ. 

I  cordially  congratulate  our  Board  of  Lectureship,  and 

6  Publication    Committee,    on    their    adequacy    and    correct 

analysis    of    Christian    Science.      Let    us    all    pray    at    this 

Communion   season   for   more   grace,    a   more    fulfilled   life 

9  and    spiritual    understanding,    bringing    music    to    the    ear, 

rapture     to     the     heart  —  a     fathomless  peace     between 

Soul   and   sense  —  and    that   our   works   be    as   worthy   as 

12   our  words. 

My   subject    to-day   embraces    the    First    Commandment 
in  the  Hebrew  Decalogue,  and  the  new  commandment  in 
IS    the  gospel  of  peace,  both  ringing  like  soft  vesper  chimes  ; 
adown  the   corridors  of   time,   and   echoing   and   reechoing 
through  the  measureless  rounds  of  eternity. 

i8  God  as  Love 

The  First  Commandment,  "  Thou   shalt    have  no  other : 
gods  before  me,"  is  a  law  never  to  be  abrogated  —  a  divine  ^| 

21   statute   for   yesterday,    and    to-day,    and   forever.      I    shall  I 
briefly  consider  these  two  commandments  in  a  few  of  their 
infinite  meanings,  applicable  to  all  periods  —  past,  present, , 

24  and  future. 

Alternately     transported     and     alarmed     by     abstruse : 
problems  of  Scripture,  we  are  liable  to  turn  from  them  asi 

27  impractical,    or    beyond    the    ken    of    mortals,  —  and    pasti 
finding  out.     Our   thoughts   of   the   Bible   utter  our  lives. 


MESSAGE  FOR   1902  5 

As  silent  night  foretells  the  dawn  and  din  of  morn;    as  the     i 
dulness  of  to-day  prophesies  renewed  energy  for  to-morrow, 
—  so  the  pagan  philosophies  and  tribal  religions  of  yester-     3 
day  but  foreshadowed  the  spiritual  dawn  of  the  twentieth 
century  —  religion  parting  with  its  materiaHty. 

Christian  Science  stills  all  distress  over  doubtful  inter-     6 
pretations  of   the   Bible;    it   lights   the   fires  of   the  Holy 
Ghost,   and  floods  the  world  with  the  baptism  of  Jesus. 
It  is  this  ethereal  flame,  this  almost  unconceived  light  of     9 
divine    Love,    that    heaven    husbands    in    the    First    Com- 
mandment. 

For  man  to  be   thoroughly  subordinated    to    this  com-   12 
mandment,    God    must    be    intelligently    considered    and 
understood.       The     ever-recurring    human     question     and 
wonder.  What  is  God?     can  never  be  answered  satisfac-    15 
torily  by  human  h>potheses  or  philosophy.     Divine  meta- 
physics and   St.   John  have  answered   this  great  question 
forever  in   these   words:    "  God  is  Love."     This  absolute    18 
definition  of  Deity  is  the  theme  for  time  and  for  eternity; 
it  is  iterated  in  the  law  of  God,  reiterated  in  the  gospel  of 
Christ,   voiced  in   the   thunder  of   Sinai,   and   breathed   in   21 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.     Hence  our  IMaster's  saying, 
"  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law,  or  the 
prophets:    I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil."  24 

Since  God  is  Love,  and  infinite,  why  should  mortals 
conceive  of  a  law,  propound  a  question,  formulate  a  doc- 
trine, or  speculate  on  the  existence  of  anything  which  is  27 
an  antipode  of  infinite  Love  and  the  manifestation  thereof? 
The  sacred  command,  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  ether  gods 
before  me,"  silences  all  questions  on  this  subject,  and  for-  30 


r 

6  MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  ever  forbids  the  thought  of  any  other  reahty,  since  it  is  im- 
possible to  have  aught  unhke  the  infinite. 
3       The  knowledge  of  hfe,  substance,  or  law,  apart  or  other 
than    God  —  good  —  is    forbidden.      The    curse    of    Love 
and  Truth  was  pronounced  upon  a  lie,  upon  false  knowl- 
6  edge,  the  fruits  of   the  flesh  not  Spirit.     Since  knowledge 
of   evil,   of   something   besides   God,   good,    brought   death 
into  the  world  on  the   basis  of  a  he,  Love  and  Truth  de- 
9  stroy  this  knowledge,  —  and   Christ,   Truth,   demonstrated 
and   continues   to   demonstrate    this    grand   verity,    saving 
the  sinner  and  healing  the  sick.     Jesus  said  a  lie  fathers 

12  itself,  thereby  showing  that  God  made  neither  evil  nor  its 
consequences.  Here  all  human  woe  is  seen  to  obtain  in 
a    false    claim,    an    untrue    consciousness,    an     impossible 

15  creation,  yea,  something  that  is  not  of  God.  The  Chris- 
tianization  of  mortals,  whereby  the  mortal  concept  and 
all  it  includes  is  obliterated,   lets  in   the  divine   sense  of 

i8  being,  fulfils  the  law  in  righteousness,  and  consummates 
the  First  Commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods 
before    me."      All    Christian    faith,    hope,    and   prayer,    all 

21  devout  desire,  virtually  petition,  Make  me  the  image  and 
likeness  of  divine  Love. 

Through   Christ,    Truth,    divine  metaphysics  points    the 

24  way,  demonstrates  heaven  here,  —  the  struggle  over,  and 
victory  on  the  side  of  Truth.  In  the  degree  that  man  be- 
comes  spiritually   minded   he   becomes   Godlike.      St.    Paul 

2  7  writes:  "  For  to  be  carnally  minded  is  death;  but  to  be 
spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace."  Divine  Science 
fulfils  the  law  and  the  gospel,  wherein  God  is  infinite  Love, 

30  including     nothing     unlovely,     producing     nothing     unlike 


MESSAGE   FOR    1902  7 

Himself,  the  true  nature  of  Love  intact  and  eternal.    Divine     i 
metaphysics   concedes   no   origin   or   causation   apart   from 
God.     It  accords  all  to  God,  Spirit,  and  His  infinite  mani-     3 
testations  of  love  —  man  and  the  universe. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  matter,  sin,  disease,  and 
death  enter  not  into  the  category  of  creation  or  conscious-     6 
ness.     ]Minus  this  spiritual  understanding  of  Scripture,  of 
God    and    His    creation,    neither    philosophy,    nature,    nor 
grace  can  give  man  the  true  idea  of  God  —  divine  Love  —     9 
sufiiciently  to  fulfil  the  First  Commandment. 

The  Latin  omtii,  which  signifies  all,  used  as  an  Enghsh 
prefix  to  the  words  potence,  presence,  science,  signifies  all-   12 
power,  all-presence,  all-science.     Use  these  words  to  define 
God,  and  nothing  is  left  to  consciousness  but  Love,  without 
beginning  and  without  end,  even   the   forever  /  AM,   and   15 
All,    than    which    there    is    naught    else.      Thus    we    have 
Scriptural     authority     for     divine     metaphysics  —  spiritual 
man    and    the    universe    coexistent    with   God.      No  other    18 
logical     conclusion    can     be     drawn     from     the     premises, 
and    no    other    scientific    proposition    can    be    Christianly 
entertained.  21 

Love  One  Another 

Here   we   proceed   to   another   Scriptural   passage   which 
serves   to   confirm    Christian   Science.      Christ   Jesus   saith,    24 
"  A  new  commandment  I  give  unto  you.  That  ye  love  one 
another;    as   I   have   loved  you."      It  is  obvious   that  he 
called  his  disciples'  special  attention  to  his  ne-di)  command-   27 
ment.       And     wherefore?       Because     it     emphasizes     the 


r 

8    MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  apostle's     declaration,     "  God     is     Love,"  —  it     elucidates 
Christianity,  illustrates  God,  and  man  as  His  likeness,  and 
3  commands  man  to  love  as  Jesus  loved. 

The  law  and  the  gospel  concur,  and  both  will  be  ful- 
filled. Is  it  necessary  to  say  that  the  likeness  of  God,  Spirit, 
6  is  spiritual,  and  the  Hkeness  of  Love  is  loving?  When 
loving,  we  learn  that  "  God  is  Love;  "  mortals  hating,  or 
unloving,  are  neither  Christians  nor  Scientists,  The  new 
9  commandment  of  Christ  Jesus  shows  what  true  spirituality 
is,  and  its  harmonious  effects  on  the  sick  and  the  sinner. 
No  person  can  heal  or  reform  mankind  unless  he  is  actuated 

12  by  love  and  good  will  towards  men.  The  coincidence  be- 
tween the  law  and  the  gospel,  between  the  old  and  the  new 
commandment,  confirms  the  fact  that  God  and  Love  are 

IS  one.  The  spiritually  minded  are  inspired  with  tenderness, 
Truth,  and  Love.  The  life  of  Christ  Jesus,  his  words  and 
his  deeds,   demonstrate   Love.     We   have   no   evidence   of 

i8  being  Christian  Scientists  except  we  possess  this  inspira- 
tion, and  its  power  to  heal  and  to  save.  The  energy  that 
saves  sinners  and  heals  the  sick  is  divine:    and  Love  is  the 

21  Principle  thereof.  Scientific  Christianity  works  out  the 
rule  of  spiritual  love;  it  makes  man  active,  it  prompts  per- 
petual goodness,   for   the   ego,   or   I,   goes   to   the   Father, 

24  whereby  man  is  Godlike.  Love,  purity,  meekness,  co- 
exist in  divine  Science.  Lust,  hatred,  revenge,  coincide  in 
material    sense.      Christ   Jesus   reckoned   man   in    Science, 

27  having  the  kingdom  of  heaven  within  him.  He  spake  of 
man  not  as  the  offspring  of  Adam,  a  departure  from  God, 
or  His   lost  likeness,  but   as   God's   child.     Spiritual   love 

30  makes  man  conscious  that  God  is  his  Father,  and  the  con- 


MESSAGE  FOR   1902  9 

sciousness  of  God  as  Love  gives  man  power  with  untold     i 
furtherance.     Then  God  becomes  to  him  the  All-presence 
—  quenching    sin;      the    All-power  —  giving    life,     health,     3 
holiness;    the  All-science  —  all  law  and  gospel. 

Jesus  commanded,  "  Follow  me;    and  let  the  dead  bury 
their  dead;  "    in  other  words,  Let  the  world,  popularity,     6 
pride,   and   ease   concern   you   less,    and   love   thou.     When 
the  full  significance  of  this  sa>'ing  is  understood,  we  shall 
have  better  practitioners,  and  Truth  will  arise  in  human     9 
thought  with  heaHng  in  its  wings,   regenerating  mankind 
and  fulfilling  the  apostle's  saying:    "  For  the  law  of  the 
Spirit  of  Hfe  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me  free  from  the   12 
law  of  sin  and  death."     Loving  chords  set  discords  in  har- 
mony.     Every    condition    impHed    by   the   great    INIaster, 
every   promise   fulfilled,    was   loving   and   spiritual,   urging    is 
a  state  of  consciousness  that  leaves  the  minor  tones  of  so- 
called  material  life  and  abides  in  Christlikeness. 

The  unity  of  God  and  man  is  not  the  dream  of  a  heated  18 
brain;  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  heahng  Christ,  that  dwelt  for- 
ever in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  and  should  abide  forever 
in  man.  When  first  I  heard  the  Kfe-giving  sound  thereof,  21 
•  and  knew  not  whence  it  came  nor  whither  it  tended,  it 
was  the  proof  of  its  divine  origin,  and  heahng  power,  that 
opened  my  closed  eyes.  24 

Did  the  age's  thinkers  laugh  long  over  IMorse's  dis- 
covery of  telegraphy?  Did  they  quarrel  long  with  the 
inventor  of  a  steam  engine?  Is  it  cause  for  bitter  com-  27 
ment  and  personal  abuse  that  an  individual  has  met  the 
need  of  mankind  with  some  new-old  truth  that  counteracts 
ignorance    and    superstition?      WTiatever    enlarges    man's  30 


lo       MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER   CHURCH 

I   facilities    for    knowing    and    doing    good,    and    subjugates 

matter,  has  a  fight  with  the  flesh.     Utilizing  the  capacities 

3  of  the  human  mind  uncovers  new  ideas,  unfolds  spiritual 

forces,   the  divine  energies,  and  their  power  over  matter, 

molecule,    space,    time,    mortality;     and    mortals    cry  out, 

6  "  Art  thou  come  hither  to  torment  us  before  the  time?" 

then  dispute  the  facts,  call  them  false  or  in  advance  of  the 

time,    and    reiterate.    Let    me    alone.      Hence    the    foot- 

9  prints  of  a  reformer  are  stained  with  blood.     Rev.  Hugh 

Black  writes  truly:    "The  birthplace  of  civilization  is  not,. 

Athens,  but  Calvary." 

12  When  the  human  mind  is  advancing  above  itself  towards; 
the  Divine,  it  is  subjugating  the  body,  subduing  matter,  , 
taking    steps    outward    and    upwards.      This    upward    ten- 

15   dency  of  humanity  will  finally  gain  the  scope  of  Jacob's 

vision,  and  rise  from  sense  to  Soul,  from  earth  to  heaven. 

Religions    in    general    admit    that    man    becomes   finally 

i8  spiritual.  If  such  is  man's  ultimate,  his  predicate  tending 
thereto  is  correct,  and  inevitably  spiritual.  Wherefore, 
then,  smite  the  reformer  who  finds  the  more  spiritual  way, 

21  shortens  the  distance,  discharges  burdensome  baggage, 
and  increases  the  speed  of  mortals'  transit  from  matter 
to  Spirit  —  yea,  from  sin  to  holiness?     This  is  indeed  our 

24  sole  proof  that  Christ,  Truth,  is  the  way.  The  old  and 
recurring  martyrdom  of  God's  best  witnesses  is  the  in- 
firmity   of     evil,    the    modus    operandi     of    human    error, 

2  7  carnality,  opposition  to  God  and  His  power  in  man. 
Persecuting  a  reformer  is  like  sentencing  a  man  for  com- 
municating  with   foreign   nations   in   other  ways   than   bv 

30  walking  every  step  over  the  land  route,  and  swimming  the 


MESSAGE   FOR   1902  n 

ocean  with  a  letter  in  his  hand  to  leave  on  a  foreign  shore,     i 
Our    heavenl}'    Father    never    destined    mortals    who    seek 
for  a  better  country  to  wander  on  the  shores  of  time  dis-     3 
appointed  travellers,  tossed  to  and  fro  b)^  adverse  circum- 
stances,   inevitably    subject    to    sin,    disease,    and    death. 
Divine    Love    waits    and    pleads    to    save    mankind  —  and     6 
awaits   with   warrant   and   welcome,   grace   and   glory,    the 
earth-weary  and  heavy-laden  who  find  and  point  the  path 
to  heaven.  g 

Envy  or  abuse  of  him  who,  having  a  new  idea  or  a  more 
spiritual  understanding  of  God,  hastens  to  help  on  his 
fellow-mortals,  is  neither  Christian  nor  Science.  If  a  12 
postal  service,  a  steam  engine,  a  submarine  cable,  a  wire- 
less telegraph,  each  in  turn  has  helped  mankind,  how 
much  more  is  accompUshed  when  the  race  is  helped  on-  15 
ward  by  a  new-old  message  from  God,  even  the  knowl- 
edge of  salvation  from  sin,  disease,  and  death. 

The    world's    wickedness   gave    our   glorified    Master    a    18 
bitter   cup  —  which    he    drank,    giving    thanks,    then    gave 
it  to  his  followers  to  drink.     Therefore  it  is  thine,  advanc- 
ing   Christian,    and    this   is    thy   Lord's    benediction   upon   21 
it:    "  Blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall  revile  you,  and  per- 
secute you,   and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you 
falsely,    for    my    sake.      Rejoice,    and    be    exceeding    glad:    24 
for  great  is  your  reward  in  heaven:    for  so  persecuted  they 
the  prophets  which  were  before  you." 

Of  old  the  Jews  put  to  death  the  Gahlean  Prophet,  the   27 
best   Christian  on  earth,   for  the   truths  he  said  and  did: 
while  to-day  Jew  and  Christian  can  unite  in  doctrine  and  in 
practice  on  the  very  basis  of  his  words  and  works.    The  Jew  30 


12   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  believes  that  the  Messiah  or  the  Christ  has  not  yet  come; 
the    Christian   believes   that   Christ   is   come   and   is   God. 
3  Here  Christian  Science  intervenes,  explains  these  doctrinal 
points,  cancels  the  disagreement,  and  settles  the  whole  ques- 
tion on  the  basis  that  Christ  is  the  Messiah,  the  true  spir- 
6  itual  idea,  and  this  ideal  of  God  is  now  and  forever,  here  and 
everywhere.     The  Jew  who  believes  in  the  First  Command- 
ment is  a  monotheist,  he  has  one  omnipresent  God:    thus 
9  the  Jew  unites  with  the  Christian  idea  that  God  is  come, 
and  is  ever  present.     The   Christian  who  believes  in  the 
First   Commandment   is  a   monotheist:     thus  he   virtually 

12  unites  with  the  Jew's  belief  in  one  God,  and  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  God,  as  he  himself  declared,  but  is  the  Son  of 
God.     This  declaration  of  Christ,  understood,  conflicts  not 

IS  at  all  with  another  of  his  sayings:  "  I  and  my  Father  are 
one,"  —  that  is,  one  in  quahty,  not  in  quantity.  As  a  drop 
of  water  is  one  with  the  ocea,n,  a  ray  of  light  one  with  the 

i8  sun,  even  so  God  and  man.  Father  and  son,  are  one  in 
being.  The  Scripture  reads:  "  For  in  Him  we  Hve,  and 
move,  and  have  our  being." 

21  Here  allow  me  to  interpolate  some  matters  of  business 
that  ordinarily  find  no  place  in  my  Message.  It  is  a  privi- 
lege to  acquaint  communicants  with  the  financial  transac- 

24  tions  of  this  church,  so  far  as  I  know  them,  and  especially 
before  making  another  united  effort  to  purchase  more  land 
and  enlarge  our  church  edifice  so  as  to  seat  the  large  number   | 

2  7  who  annually  favor  us  with  their  presence  on  Communion 
Sunday. 
When  founding  the  institutions  and  early  movements  of 

30  the  Cause  of  Christian  Science,  I  furnished  the  money  from 


MESSAGE   FOR   1902  13 

my  own  private  earnings  to  meet  the  expenses  involved. 
In  this  endeavor  self  was  forgotten,  peace  sacrificed,  Christ 
and  our  Cause  my  only  incentives,  and  each  success  in- 
curred a  sharper  fire  from  enmity. 

During  the  last  seven  years  I  have  transferred  to  The 
Mother  Church,  of  my  personal  property  and  funds,  to  the 
value  of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars; 
and  the  net  profits  from  the  business  of  The  Christian  Sci- 
ence Publishing  Society  (which  was  a  part  of  this  transfer) 
yield  this  church  a  hberal  income.  I  receive  no  personal 
benefit  therefrom  except  the  privilege  of  publishing  my 
books  in  their  publishing  house,  and  desire  none  other. 

The  land  on  which  to  build  The  First  Church  of  Christ, 
Scientist,  in  Boston,  had  been  negotiated  for,  and  about  one 
half  the  price  paid,  when  a  loss  of  funds  occurred,  and  I 
came  to  the  rescue,  purchased  the  mortgage  on  the  lot 
corner  of  Falmouth  and  Caledonia  (now  Xonvay)  Streets; 
pa>dng  for  it  the  sum  of  $4,963.50  and  interest,  through  my 
legal  counsel.  After  the  mortgage  had  expired  and  the  note 
therewith  became  due,  legal  proceedings  were  instituted  by 
my  counsel  advertising  the  property  in  the  Boston  news- 
papers, and  giving  opportunity  for  those  who  had  previously 
negotiated  for  the  property  to  redeem  the  land  by  paying 
the  amount  due  on  the  mortgage.  But  no  one  offering 
the  price  I  had  paid  for  it,  nor  to  take  the  property  off  my 
hands,  the  mortgage  was  foreclosed,  and  the  land  legally 
conveyed  to  me,  by  my  counsel.  This  land,  now  valued  at 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  I  afterwards  gave  to  my  church 
through  trustees,  who  were  to  be  known  as  "  The  Christian 
Science  Board  of  Directors."     A  copy  of  this  deed  is  pub- 


14       MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER    CHURCH 

I  lished  in  our  Church  Manual.     About  five  thousand  dollars 

had  been  paid  on  the  land  when  I  redeemed  it.    The  only 
3   interest  I  retain  in  this  property  is  to  save  it  for  my  church. 

I  can  neither  rent,  mortgage,  nor  sell  this  church  edifice  nor 

the  land  whereon  it  stands. 
6       I  suggest  as  a  motto  for  every  Christain  Scientist,  —  a 

living  and  life-giving  spiritual  shield  against  the  powers  of 

darkness,  — 

9  "Great  not  like  Csesar,  stained  with  blood, 

But  only  great  as  I  am  good." 

The  only  genuine  success  possible  for  any  Christian  —  and 

12  the  only  success  I  have  ever  achieved  —  has  been  accom- 
plished on  this  solid  basis.  The  remarkable  growth  and 
prosperity  of  Christian  Science  are  its  legitimate  fruit.     A 

15  successful  end  could  never  have  been  compassed  on  any 
other  foundation,  —  with  truths  so  counter  to  the  common 
convictions  of  mankind  to  present  to  the  world.     From  the 

i8  beginning  of  the  great  battle  every  forward  step  has  been 
met  (not  by  mankind,  but  by  a  kind  of  men)  with  mockery, 
envy,  rivalry,  and  falsehood  —  as  achievement  after  achicve- 

21   ment  has  been  blazoned  on  the  forefront  of  the  world  and 
recorded   in   heaven.      The   popular   philosophies   and    reli-  jj 
gions  have  afforded  me  neither  favor  nor  protection  in  the 

24  great  struggle.  Therefore,  I  ask:  What  has  shielded  and 
prospered  preeminently  our  great  Cause,  but  the  out- 
stretched arm  of  infinite  Love?     This  pregnant  question, 

2  7  answered  frankly  and  honestly,  should  forever  silence  all 
private  criticisms,  all  unjust  pubhc  aspersions,  and  afford 
an  open  field  and  fair  play. 


MESSAGE   FOR   1902  15 

In    the   eighties,   anonymous   letters   mailed   to   me   con-     i 
tained  threats  to  blow  up  the  hall  where  I  preached;    yet  I 
never  lost  my  faith  in  God,  and  neither  informed  the  police     3 
of  these  letters  nor  sought  the  protection  of  the  laws  of  my 
country.     I  leaned  on  God,  and  was  safe. 

Healing  all  manner  of  diseases  without  charge,  keeping     6 
a  free   institute,    rooming   and   boarding   indigent   students 
that  I  taught  "  without  money  and  without  price,"  I  strug- 
gled on  through  many  years;    and  while  dependent  on  the     9 
income  from  the  sale  of  Science  and  Health,  my  publisher 
paid  me  not  one  dollar  of  royalty  on  its  first  edition.    Those 
were  days  wherein  the  connection  between  justice  and   be-   12 
ing  approached   the  mythical.     Before   entering  upon  my 
great  life-work,  my  income  from  literary  sources  was  ample, 
until,  dechning  dictation  as  to  what  I  should  write,  I  became    15 
poor  fcr  Christ's  sake.     My  husband.   Colonel  Glover,  of 
Charleston,   South   Carolina,   was    considered  wealthy,   but 
much  of  his  property  was  in  slaves,  and  I  decHned  to  sell    18 
them  at  his  decease  in  1844,  for  I  could  never  believe  that  a 
human  being  was  my  property. 

SLx  wxeks  I  waited  on  God  to  suggest  a  name  for  the  book    21 
I  had  been  writing.     Its  title,  Science  and  Health,  came  to 
me  in  the  silence  of  night,  when  the  steadfast  stars  watched 
over   the   world,  —  when   slumber  had   fled,  —  and    I   rose    24 
and  recorded  the  hallowed  suggestion.     The  following  day 
I  showed  it  to  my  literar>'  friends,  who  advised  me  to  drop 
both  the  book  and  the  title.     To  this,  however,  I  gave  no    27 
heed,  feeling  sure  that  God  had  led  me  to  write  that  book, 
and  had   whispered   that   name   to   my   waiting  hope   and 
prayer.    It  was  to  me  the  "  still,  small  voice  "  that  came  to  30 


1 6   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  Elijah  after  the  earthquake  and  the  fire.  Six  months  there 
after  Miss  Dorcas  Rawson  of  Lynn  brought  to  me  Wychf" 

3  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  and  pointed  out  tha. 
identical  phrase,  ''  Science  and  Health,"  which  is  rendered 
in    the    Authorized    Version    "  knowledge    of    salvation." 

6  This  was  my  first  inkling  of  Wyclif's  use  of  that  combina- 
tion of  words,  or  of  their  rendering.  To-day  I  am  the  happy 
possessor  of  a  copy  of  Wyclif,  the  invaluable  gift  of  two 

9  Christian  Scientists,  —  Mr.  W.  Nicholas  Miller,  K.C.,  anr 
Mrs.  F.  L.  Miller,  of  London,  England.      * 


GODLIKENESS 

12       St.  Paul  writes:    "  Follow  peace  with  all  men,  and  holi- 
ness, without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord."    To  attai 
peace  and  holiness  is  to  recognize  the  divine  presence  an 

IS  allness.  Jesus  said:  "  I  am  the  way."  Kindle  the  watch 
fires  of  unselfed  love,  and  they  throw  a  light  upon  the  un- 
complaining agony  in  the  life  of  our  Lord;    they  open  the 

i8  enigmatical  seals  of  the  angel,  standing  in  the  sun,  a  glori 
fied  spiritual  idea  of  the  ever-present  God  —  in  whom  there 
is  no  darkness,  but  all  is  Hght,  and  man's  immortal  being. 

21  The  meek  might,  sublime  patience,  wonderful  works,  and 
opening  not  his  mouth  in  self-defense  against  false  wit- 
nesses, express  the  life  of   Godlikeness.     Fasting,   feastin^-- 

24  or  penance,  —  merely  outside  forms  of  rehgion,  —  fail  1?<. 
elucidate  Christianity:  they  reach  not  the  heart  nor  ren'' 
vate  it;    they  never  destroy  one  iota  of  hypocrisy,  prid-' 

27  self-will,    envy,    or    hate.      The    mere    form    of    godUnes^ 


MESSAGE   FOR   1902  I7 

upled  with   selfishness,  worldliness,  hatred,  and  lust,  are     i    ^ 
lells  tolling  the  burial  of  Christ.  ^^  . 

Jesus  said    "  If  ye  love  me,  keep  my  commandments.       3    , 
e  knew  that  obedience  is  the  test  of  love;    that  one  gladly  , 

3eys  when  obedience  gives  him  happiness.     Selfishly,  or 
thenvise,  aU  are  ready  to  seek  and  obey  what  they  love.     6 
,-hen  mortals  learn  to  love  aright;    when  they  learn  that 
lan's  highest  happiness,  that  which  has  most  of  heaven  m 

is  in   blessing   others,   and   self-immolation  -  they   will     9 
bey  both  the  old  and  the  new  commandment,  and  receive 
he  reward  of  obedience. 

Alany    sleep    who    should    keep    themselves    awake    and   12 
vaken   the   world.     Earth's   actors   change   earth's   scenes; 
tnd  the  curtain  of  human  Hfe  should  be  lifted  on  reality,  on 
hat  which  outweighs  time;  on  duty  done  and  life  perfected,    is 
.vherein  joy  is  real  and  fadeless.    Who  of  the  world's  lovers 
^xer  found  her  true?    It  is  wise  to  be  wiUing  to  wait  on  God, 
and  to  be  vviser  than  serpents;  to  hate  no  man,  to  love  one  s    16 
enemies,  and  to  square  accounts  with  each  passmg  hour. 
Then  thy  gain  outlives  the  sun,  for  the  sun  shines  but  to 
show  man  the  beauty  of  hohness  and  the  wealth  of  love.    21 
Happiness  consists  in  being  and  in  doing  good;    only  what 
God  gives,  and  what  we  give  ourselves  and  others  through 
His    tenure,    confers    happiness:     conscious    worth    satisfies    24 
the  hungry  heart,  and  nothing  else  can.     Consult  thy  every- 
dav  hfe;    take  its  answer  as  to  thy  aims,  motives,  fondest 
pu'rposes,  and  this  oracle  of  years  will  put  to  flight  all  care   27 
for  the  world's  soft  flattery  or  its  frown.     Patience  and  res- 
mation  are  the  pillars  of  peace  that,  like  the  sun  beneath 
he  horizon,  cheer  the  heart  susceptible  of  hght  with  prom-  30 


1 8   MESSAGE  TO  THE  MOTHER  CHURCH 

I  ised   joy.     Be   faithful   at   the   temple   gate   of  conscience, 
wakefully  guard  it;    then  thou  wilt  know  when  the  thief 
3   Cometh. 

The  constant  spectacle  of  sin  thrust  upon  the  pure  sense 
of  the  immaculate  Jesus  made  him  a  man  of  sorrows.     He 

6  Uved  when  mortals  looked  ignorantly,  as  now,  on  the  might 
of  divine  power  manifested  through  man;  only  to  mock, 
wonder,  and  perish.     Sad  to   say,  the  cowardice  and  self- 

9  seeking  of  his  disciples  helped  crown  with  thorns  the  life  of 
him  who  broke  not  the  bruised  reed  and  quenched  not  the 
smoking    flax,  —  who    caused    not    the    feeble    to    fall,    nor 

12  spared  through  false  pity  the  consuming  tares.  Jesus  was 
compassionate,  true,  faithful  to  rebuke,  ready  to  forgive. 
He  said,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have   done  it  unto  one  of  the 

IS  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 
"  Love  one  another,  as  I  have  loved  you."  No  estrange- 
ment, no  emulation,  no  deceit,   enters  into  the  heart  that 

i8  loves  as  Jesus  loved.  It  is  a  false  sense  of  love  that,  like 
the  summer  brook,  soon  gets  dry.  Jesus  laid  down  his  life 
for  mankind;   what  more  could  he  do?    Beloved,  how  much 

21  of  what  he  did  are  we  doing?  Yet  he  said,  "  The  works 
that  I  do  shall  he  do."  When  this  prophecy  of  the  great 
Teacher  is  fulfilled  we  shall  have  more  effective  healers  and 

24  less  theorizing;  faith  without  proof  loses  its  life,  and  it 
should  be  buried.  The  ignoble  conduct  of  his  disciples 
towards    their    Master,    showing    their    unfitness    to   follow 

27  him,  ended  in  the  downfall  of  genuine  Christianity,  about 
the  year  325,  and  the  violent  death  of  all  his  disciples  save 
one. 

30       The    nature    of    Jesus    made    him    keenly    alive    to    the 


MESSAGE   FOR   1902  19 

injustice,    ingratitude,    treachery,    and    brutality    that     he     i 
received.     Yet  behold  his  love!     So  soon  as  he  burst  the 
bonds  of  the  tomb  he  hastened  to  console  his  unfaithful     3 
followers  and  to  disarm   their  fears.     Again:    True  to  his 
divine  nature,  he  rebuked  them  on  the  eve  of  his  ascension, 
called  one  a  "  fool  "  —  then,  hfting  up  his  hands  and  bless-     6 
ing  them,  he  rose  from  earth  to  heaven. 

The    Christian    Scientist    cherishes    no    resentment;     he 
knows  that  that  would  harm  him  more  than  all  the  malice     9 
of  his  foes.     Brethren,  even   as  Jesus  forgave,  forgive  thou. 
I   say   it   with   joy,  —  no    person   can   commit   an   offense 
against  me  that  I  cannot  forgive.     Meekness  is  the  armor  12 
of  a  Christian,  his  shield   and  his  buckler.     He  entertains 
angels  who  Hstens  to  the   hspings  of  repentance  seen  in  a 
tear  —  happier   than   the    conqueror   of   a   world.      To    the    15 
burdened    and    weary,    Jesus    saith:     "  Come    unto    me." 
O  glorious  hope!    there  remaineth   a  rest  for  the  righteous, 
a  rest  in  Christ,  a  peace  in  Love.     The  thought  of  it  stills    18 
complaint;    the  heaving  surf   of    hfe's  troubled  sea  foams 
itself  away,  and  underneath  is  a  deep-settled  calm. 

Are  earth's  pleasures,   its   ties    and  its   treasures,   taken   21 
away   from   you?     It  is   divine    Love   that  doeth  it,   and 
sayeth,   "  Ye  have   need  of   all    these    things."     A  danger 
besets  thy  path?  —  a  spiritual  behest,  in  reversion,  awaits    24 
you. 

The    great    Master    triumphed    in    furnace    fires.      Then, 
Christian  Scientists,  trust,  and  trusting,  you  will  find  divine   27 
Science  glorifies  the  cross  and  crowns  the  association  with 
our  Saviour  in  his  Hfe  of    love.      There    is    no    redundant 
drop    in    the    cup    that    our    Father    permits    us.      Christ  30 


20        MESSAGE   TO   THE   MOTHER   CHURCH 

I  walketh  over  the  wave;  on  the  ocean  of  events,  mounting 
the  billow  or  going  down  into  the  deep,  the  voice  of  him 

3  who  stilled  the  tempest  saith,  "  It  is  I;  be  not  afraid." 
Thus  he  bringeth  us  into  the  desired  haven,  the  kingdom 
of   Spirit;    and  the  hues  of  heaven,   tipping  the   dawn  of 

6  everlasting  day,  joyfully  whisper,  "  No  drunkards  within, 
no  sorrow,  no  pain;  and  the  glory  of  earth's  woes  is  risen 
upon  you,   rewarding,   satisfying,  glorifying  thy  unfaltering 

0  faith  and  good   works   with   the   fulness  of   divine   Love." 

'T  was  God  who  gave  that  word  of  might 
Which  swelled  creation's  lay,  — 
12  "Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light,"  — 

That  swept  the  clouds  away; 
'T  was  Love  whose  finger  traced  aloud 
15  A  bow  of  promise  on  the  cloud. 

Beloved  brethren,  are  you  ready  to  join  me  in  this  prop- 
osition,   namely,    in    1902    to    begin    omitting    our    annual 

18  gathering  at  Pleasant  View,  —  thus  breaking  any  seeming 
connection  between  the  sacrament  in  our  church  and  a 
pilgrimage  to  Concord?    I  shall  be  the  loser  by  this  change, 

21  for  it  gives  me  great  joy  to  look  into  the  faces  of  my  dear 
church-members;  but  in  this,  as  all  else,  I  can  bear  the 
cross,  while  gratefully  appreciating  the  privilege  of  meet- 

24  ing  you  all  occasionally  in  the  metropolis  of  my  native 
State,  whose  good  people  welcome  Christian  Scientists. 


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